Official – Israel Adesanya vs. Jared Cannonier Headlines UFC 276 On July 2.
An undisputed UFC middleweight championship fight between defending division kingpin, Israel Adesanya, and the surging #2 ranked challenger, Jared Cannonier is slated to feature at UFC 276 on July 2. during International Fight Week – with the event set to take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Israel Adesanya, a native of Lagos, Nigeria – is set to attempt his fifth successful defense of the middleweight title, most recently landing a second career win over former titleholder, Robert Whittaker in the main event of UFC 271 in February of this year.
For Cannonier, the Texan powerhouse managed to land his second consecutive victory since a common-foe loss to Whittaker, stopping surging wrestler, Derek Brunson with a barrage of second round ground elbows on the undercard of Adesanya’s rematch win over Whittaker earlier this annum. The promotion confirmed the pairing during the official broadcast of UFC 274 tonight in Phoenix, Arizona.
Israel Adesanya, who plys his trade under the tutelage of City Kickboxing technician, Eugene Bareman, managed to unify the middleweight titles against Whittaker in 2019, before landing his first successful defense as undisputed best with a forgettable unanimous decision win over Yoel Romero at UFC 249.
Featuring on ‘Fight Island’ in September 2020, Adesanya stopped the then-undefeated, Paulo Costa with a second round knockout in Abu Dhabi, UAE – before landing another rematch win, this time against Marvin Vettori in June of last year.
Israel Adesanya has suffered just one loss in professional MMA
In his sole professional loss, Adesanya dropped a unanimous decision defeat to former light heavyweight champion, Jan Blachowicz in the main event of UFC 259 in March of last year in an attempt to become a two-weight champion held simultaneously.
Cannonier, the #2 ranked contender at 185lbs, boasts a 15-5 professional record, managing to rebound from a one-sided unanimous judging loss to Whittaker with a unanimous decision win of his own against Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Vegas 34 last August.
In other divisional victories, Cannonier holds a trio of knockout successes against Jack Hermansson, Anderson Silva, and David Branch.
