Two recently defeated middleweight contenders are slated to face each other on October 15th.
Ariel Helwani reports that former title challenger Jared Cannonier and Sean Strickland are in line for a fall showdown in the main event of a UFC Fight Night card. The APEX facility in Las Vegas is the likely venue but nothing is official just yet. The latest UFC rankings have Cannonier at No. 2 and Strickland at No. 7.
Cannonier (15-6) is coming off a decision loss to champion Israel Adesanya at last month’s UFC 276. The former heavyweight and light heavyweight is an impressive 5-2 overall at 185 lbs, with his only other defeat coming against ex-champion Robert Whittaker. His road to the title included knockouts or TKOs of Jack Hermansson, Derek Brunson, Anderson Silva, and David Branch, as well as a five-round decision over Kelvin Gastelum.
Strickland (25-4) had his six-fight winning streak snapped violently by the heavy hands of former kickboxing champion Alex Pereira, who knocked him out in the opening round of their UFC 276 encounter. While Cannonier had success moving down to middleweight, Strickland ascended to contender status by moving up from welterweight and scoring wins over the likes of Jack Hermansson, Uriah Hall, Krzysztof Jotko, Jack Marshman, and (at a 195 lbs catchweight) Brendan Allen.
Other fights linked to this October 15th show include Brandon Royval vs. Askar Askarov and Cub Swanson vs. Jonathan Martinez.
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