Jared Cannonier knows that it’s now or never.
The 40-year-old has long been considered one of the UFC middleweight division’s foremost strikers, as evidenced by his 10 KOs in his 17 career wins. The one-time title challenger has, since he was defeated by then-champ Israel Adesanya in the summer of 2022, been plotting a path back to title contention.
Since defeat to Adesanya, Cannonier has scored wins against top ranked fighters Sean Strickland and Marvin Vettori but in his last outing in June against Nassourdine Imavov, he sustained just the third KO defeat of his career in a fight that paused, at least temporarily, plans to insert his name into title talk once again at 185-pounds.
This weekend inside the UFC’s Apex facility outside of Las Vegas, Cannonier faces a test in the shape of the 16-1 (1) Brazilian Caio Borralho. A win will go a long way to re-establishing his route to gold in a fiercely competitive division. A loss? Well, it’s a long way back to the top.
Check out Cannonier’s win against Marvin Vettori in the video below.
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