Coolly, calmly, Jared Cannonier cemented himself on Saturday as one of the very best middleweights in the world. With one of the biggest name opponents of his career in front of him, the tough-as-nails Kelvin Gastelum, Cannonier’s heartbeat never quickened. With the main event lights on, he simply executed. There should be no doubt anymore that he belongs with the world’s elite at 185.
Cannonier has taken an almost completely untraveled road to get to this point. The 37-year-old has slimmed down from over 300 pounds to arrive as a force at 185. He reached the UFC as a heavyweight, worked his way down to light heavyweight in 2016, and after mixed success at 205, kept on traveling to 185, along the way becoming one of two men ever to win by knockout at three different UFC weight classes.
He showed flashes at heavyweight, and some more flashes at light heavyweight, but wasn’t going to break through in either division. But at middleweight, he’s arrived. Cannonier showed off the whole package on Saturday, outmaneuvering a very game Gastelum, a former title challenger who has fallen on hard times and was desperate to get his arrow pointing upwards again.
Cannonier’s big ticket is his punching power and punishing leg kicks, which had combined to create five knockouts in six UFC wins heading into Saturday night. And the power appeared as well against Gastelum: Cannonier sat his opponent down with a stiff step-in right hook in the second round, and caused him to hit the deck again with a left in the fourth. Cannonier was never going to knock Gastelum out – the 29-year-old is legendary for his toughness and ability to get knocked down and immediately pop back up like nothing happened.
But Cannonier never let that faze him. He stayed disciplined, even with an unkillable Gastelum continuing to press in his face for 25 minutes. Cannonier is very good at managing space, making defensive reads and staying responsible, and he’s a fighter who has improved his takedown defense immensely despite not having a notable wrestling background. Gastelum failed on all eight of his takedown attempts, and it all came from Cannonier’s footwork and positioning – he knew exactly when to get in and out of range, never lingering too long, never letting his legs get caught too far underneath his center of gravity.
It also helps a good bit that he’s maintained heavyweight strength in a middleweight body. Cannonier is one of the most physically powerful middleweights in the division, but he’s far from just a knockout puncher – the rest of his game has grown up very nicely and matured around his raw strength. The rest of the middleweight division needs to take notice, if it hasn’t already.
Cannonier was one win away from putting himself in line for a world title shot back in October, when he faced off with former world champion Robert Whittaker, in the second fight of Whittaker’s redemption tour after losing the belt to Israel Adesanya. And Cannonier found himself just a bit outclassed by Whittaker, one of the most genius strikers of his era, he was not out of his league – and he nearly stole the whole thing by flattening Whittaker with a straight left in the third round.
The Whittaker fight proved that he belonged with the best middleweights in the world, and the Gastelum fight just proved he can beat them. And while he’s behind Whittaker in line for the middleweight title, he may be next up. And as we’re all learning, Jared Cannonier may have the tools to be a champion.
The Big Fight 