"I didn't envision seeing this" - Robert Whittaker left puzzled by Jared Cannonier's uncharacteristic win over Marvin Vettori

Former UFC champion Robert Whittaker has shared his thoughts on the recent Jared Cannonier vs. Marvin Vettori fight, which took place on June 17 at the UFC Apex Facility in Paradise, Nevada.

After the culmination of the UFC Vegas 75 event, 'The Reaper' discussed the fight with Alan Jouban and Michael Chiesa on a segment for ESPN MMA. Whittaker stated that although he predicted for Cannonier to emerge victorious, he did not expect 'The Killa Gorilla' to perform as well as he did in the fight:

"I picked Cannonier to win this fight, right? But I didn't pick this Cannonier. I didn't envision seeing this pressure fighter Cannonier who just crowds and closes that gap. You saw during the fight, Cannonier had a hold of Marvin's hand a lot of the time just because he was that close. I didn't pick him coming out with this approach but it obviously worked to great effect," said Robert Whittaker.

Check out Robert Whittaker's comments on the fight below:

Cannonier and Vettori competed in a five-round main event this past weekend. 'The Italian Dream' performed well in the opening round but Cannonier bounced back and started outstriking Vettori from the second round onwards.

The fight lasted the allotted five rounds and ended with a dominant unanimous decision victory for Cannonier. The three judges scored the fight 49-45, 49-45, 48-46 in favor of the 39-year-old.

---

Jared Cannonier vs. Marvin Vettori: What did Robert Whittaker say about the Italian's ability to absorb strikes?

With his spectacular performance at UFC Vegas 75, Jared Cannonier set a new UFC record for the most significant strikes (241) thrown in a single middleweight bout. 'The Killa Gorilla' was lauded for achieving this feat at the age of 39.

But at the same time, Marvin Vettori was also praised for his ability to take so many heavy blows in the fight without letting Cannonier score a single knockdown.

Speaking to Alan Jouban and Michael Chiesa, Robert Whittaker gave props to Vettori and commended him on his ability to take and withstand shots in fights:

"Vettori, what do you have to do to put him away? I tried my best and a lot of other people have tried their best and now Cannonier gave him five [rounds] of record-breaking significant strikes and still couldn't put him away. So, he's made of something else."