Robert Whittaker and Jared Cannonier set to fight to determine #1 contender for UFC middleweight title, says Dana White

UFC president Dana White has an interesting plan in mind to determine the next contender to the UFC middleweight title following the upcoming title clash between reigning champ Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa.

Dana White has suggested a matchup between Robert Whittaker and Jared Cannonier with a title shot awaiting the winner. Robert Whittaker is coming off of a unanimous decision win over Darren Till at UFC Fight Island 3, while Jared Cannonier won his last three fights inside the Octagon via TKO against Jack Hermansson, Anderson Silva, and David Branch respectively.

Israel Adesanya is slated to defend his middleweight strap against Paulo Costa in September at the main event of UFC 253 and Dana White is already thinking about the next challenger for the title. Speaking to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, White suggested a No. 1 contender matchup between Whittaker and Cannonier to determine the next challenger for the 185lbs title.

“You got Cannonier in there. Do you do Cannonier vs. Whittaker? I mean, that’s a really good fight to find out who fights the winner of Adesanya vs. Costa,” White said.

Based on the rankings, a matchup between Robert Whittaker and Cannonier to determine who gets the next title shot makes a whole lot of sense. Whittaker is currently ranked No. 1 with Cannonier ranked at No. 3 and Costa, who is No. 2 is already getting the next title shot, hence a fight between Robert Whittaker and Jared Cannonier certainly fits the bill.

However, the winner of Whittaker and Cannonier will probably have to wait around for a while before facing the middleweight champion because Adesanya has already fought once this year and isn't likely to fight for the third time in 2020 following the Costa fight. That means that Robert Whittaker can take some time off and take the fight against Cannonier a few months later.