The UFC is heading over to Louisville, Kentucky for a Fight Night after UFC 302. This will see a middleweight match-up as Jared Cannonier returns from injury to face off against Nassourdine Imavov. Cannonier will be looking for another record-breaking performance to try and push for another shot at the middleweight title.
Cannonier’s opponent, Imavov, is a well-rounded fighter who has been able to find a stoppage in 9 of his 13 wins. Out of those 9 stoppages 5 have been due to KO/ TKO. The other 4 victories have come through submissions.
Jared Cannonier’s Record-Breaking Performance
Cannonier would get his name into the UFC record books when he took on fellow middleweight, Marvin Vettori. This happened back in June 2023 during a 5 round fight, where Cannonier would exit the octagon as the winner via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46).
Within that performance against Vettori, Cannonier landed the most significant strikes in UFC middleweight history. This was in reaction to losing against Israel Adesanya for the middleweight title in July 2022. This was Cannonier’s first UFC title shot after securing back-to-back wins against Kelvin Gastelum and Sean Strickland. During the fight with Vettori, he landed 249 significant strikes, which cleared the previous record (186).
Jared Cannonier will be looking to summon some of what brought out that performance this weekend. If Jared Cannonier is looking to get back into title contention, a performance like before will certainly do so.
Jared Cannonier’s UFC Career
Cannonier started his UFC Career as a heavyweight, making his debut against Shawn Jordan as a 7-0 prospect. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t start with a victory, due to being knocked out in the 1st round. Nevertheless, he would recover efficiently and get the first-round knockout against Cyril Asker, before moving down to the light heavyweight division.
Making his light heavyweight debut, Cannonier faced off against Ion Cutelaba, and he would secure a unanimous decision victory. This would allow him the chance to face Glover Teixeira. However, Cannonier would go on to lose due to a unanimous decision. Again, he would recover, this time with a 3rd round stoppage victory over Nick Roehrick due to elbows. Devastatingly, Cannonier would then suffer back-to-back defeats against former UFC light heavyweight champion, Jan Błachowicz, and Dominick Reyes before heading down to middleweight.
Making his middleweight debut, he came up against David Branch. Cannonier was able to get the stoppage in the 2nd round, and he would follow these victories up with stoppage wins over Anderson Silva in the first round and Jack Hermansson in the 2nd round. This would get him a fight against the former champion Robert Whittaker. However, he would be unsuccessful as he lost due to a unanimous decision. Albeit, back-to-back victories against Kelvin Gastelum and Derek Brunson would be enough to get him a title shot.
In his championship bout against Israel Adesanya, Cannonier ultimately fell short via unanimous decision. However, Cannonier would pick himself back up and get a split-decision victory against the former middleweight champion, Sean Strickland. “Cannonier “The Killa Gorilla” followed this up with a record-breaking triumph against Marvin Vettori, setting up this weekend’s matchup.
Keys to Victory
The key to victory this weekend for Jared Cannonier is very simple. Keep this fight on the feet, and trade with Imavov. Throughout his UFC career, Cannonier has been able to land 4.68 significant strikes per minute, yet absorbs 4.13 strikes per minute. While this number is still quite high, Cannonier can easily outstrike his opponents, reinforced by 52% of strikes being significant. Imavov has only been able to defend 62% of the significant strikes he has faced, so there is a gap for Cannonier to take advantage of.
Cannonier is going to have to watch out for when Imavov tries to take the fight down to the ground. This is due to Imavov averaging just under 1 takedown a fight at 0.88. Cannonier is going to have to make sure he uses his takedown defence to keep the fight standing and on his feet. Cannonier has a good takedown defence currently sitting at 62%, however, Cannonier will have that tested this Saturday when these two enter the octagon.
If Cannonier can keep the fight on the feet there is no reason why he can not get the victory. He will have to make sure his takedown defence is at his best. I can see him being able to leave the octagon with a decision victory.
Featured image credit to Embed from Getty Images
