"I want to put on a bit of a show" - Israel Adesanya looking to bring "different energy" in potential Jared Cannonier fight
Israel Adesanya has given his thoughts on a fight with Jared Cannonier.
In recent years, we've seen UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya rise up through the ranks of the UFC's 185-pound division with relative ease. From his initial journey to being a contender to capturing the championship, 'The Last Stylebender' truly is one of a kind.
In equal measure, Jared Cannonier has done a pretty solid job of transforming himself into a middleweight force since debuting in the division back in late 2018.
Adesanya has always made it clear that Cannonier is someone he's been keeping an eye on and now. As we look ahead to the summer, it appears the UFC is ready to book a fight between both men in June.
During a recent interview with Sky Sports, the champion gave his thoughts on how the fight may go down:
“I’m gonna bring a different energy to this fight that people haven’t seen from me in a long time, and that’s going off of my fight a week ago. The way I felt in that fight, leading up to it, I was on. But there are certain things I will definitely edit and I want to bring a different energy to this fight. It’s gonna be reminiscent of something some of the greats have done in the past.”
“I wanna put on a bit of a show. I like when people start to doubt me, it rubs off on me. That chip on my shoulder, I like having that. I really wanna make an example.”
Check out Adesanya's comments here:
The success of Jared Cannonier
At the age of 37, you could make the argument that Jared Cannonier has never looked better. He's 5-1 at middleweight with wins over David Branch, Anderson Silva and Jack Hermansson kickstarting his journey at this new weight class.
He took a slight step in the wrong direction with a decision defeat to Robert Whittaker. Instead of letting that deter him, he used it as fuel to get back in the gym and work even harder.
The result was a nice victory over Kelvin Gastelum. Then, when posed with a meeting against Derek Brunson, he overcame some early adversity before knocking Brunson out cold at UFC 271.