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At UFC Vegas 102, Jared Cannonier authored a tremendous comeback to TKO a game Gregory Rodrigues in a four-round war. Thereafter, the topic of who 'The Killa Gorilla' should next face popped up, drawing fan attention on X/Twitter after an MMA page fielded the question.
At 40 years old, Cannonier managed to protect his position in the UFC middleweight rankings against a dangerous talent on a three-fight win streak, who was 8 years his junior no less. To do so, he survived a few knockdowns to eventually outlast Rodrigues with guts and veteran wiles.
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The win snapped Cannonier's two-fight losing streak that saw him drop back-to-back losses to Caio Borralho and Nassourdine Imavov. As for who he should face next, fans on X/Twitter weren't short on ideas. One fan felt that Cannonier ought to return to the light heavyweight division.
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"A move back up to LHW could give him some more opportunities as there's not much else he can do at MW now"
Others weren't as convinced, with another fan calling for Cannonier to face either Robert Whittaker or Sean Strickland in rematches.
"Whittaker or Strickland"
The desire for a Strickland rematch seemed more prevalent than other suggestions.
"A Strickland rematch would be interesting"
A rematch against ex-middleweight champion Israel Adesanya was also proposed.
"Let him get his get backs against Izzy ... he's already beat Strickland"
A collage of fan reactions can be seen below:
The win at UFC Vegas 102 was a much-needed one for Cannonier, who is in the twilight years of his career. Ahead of his bout with Rodrigues, he was openly wondering whether or not he was a gatekeeper in the division. Now, he can look to string a second consecutive win to his latest one.
Jared Cannonier's fights with Robert Whittaker and Sean Strickland yielded different results
At UFC 254, Jared Cannonier sought to extend a then three-fight win streak into a four-fight purple patch by beating former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. Unfortunately, 'The Reaper' proved far too skillful. Barring an intercepting southpaw jab that rocked Whittaker in the last 30 seconds, it was a lopsided loss.
However, the opposite took place when he faced Sean Strickland, another former champion, at UFC Vegas 66. The two men had a far more competitive bout, but Cannonier did enough in the judges' eyes to earn the split-decision win, much to Strickland's charge-in.
