Blaine Henry/Sherdog illustration
We get more middleweight action with a Top 5 matchup in the
UFC on ESPN 47 main event this Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las
Vegas.
Jared
Cannonier and
Marvin
Vettori look to make their case for another title shot with a
win. Vettori is an indestructible force with an iron chin, and
Cannonier has a nuclear arsenal attached to his shoulders.
Let’s examine the potential paths to victories for the two
contenders:
Cannonier Cannot Rely on Power Alone
Cannonier is a shredded power puncher. Coming down from heavyweight
all the way to middleweight, a lot of his power remains. His UFC
run has been somewhat spotty, but middleweight is truly his home.
Since his middleweight debut in 2018, Cannonier has beaten some of
middleweight’s best, all while losing only to the elite. At 6-2 in
the division, his only losses are to former champion
Robert
Whittaker and current two-time champion
Israel
Adesanya. After his loss to Adesanya, he bounced back with a
close split decision win over
Sean
Strickland at UFC Fight Night 216.
In his more recent fights, Cannonier has started an evolutionary
transformation that sees him going from being the power puncher to
a smarter fighter with more in his tool belt. It started with the
loss to Whittaker. We can overlook the Adesanya fight. Anything
Cannonier could have learned and implemented in that bout was
already forgotten by “The Last Stylebender.” Cannonier fights
smarter and uses his footwork to get him in good positions, and we
can actually see him setting traps against opponents like
Strickland and
Derek
Brunson. While he has not been able to put together the power
with the footwork just yet, Cannonier is getting close.