5 reasons why Israel Adesanya might struggle to outstrike Jared Cannonier at UFC 276

#4 Jared Cannonier is patient

The last opponent Israel Adesanya finished was Paulo Costa at UFC 253. Before that, he TKO'd Robert Whittaker in their first bout en route to becoming the undisputed middleweight champion. Prior to even that, he had TKO'd Derek Brunson.

All three of these fighters share a similarity when it comes to their distance management. Paulo Costa is a high-volume bruiser who comes forward, using pressure to sandwich his opponent between himself and the fence.

There, he uses a right-round kick to the body or head as a barrier to stop opponents from circling out on their left, and a left hook to the body to stop them from circling out on their right as he struggles to fight at range and operates mainly in the pocket.

Robert Whittaker has famously struggled against rangy fighters as seen from his past loss to Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson, his difficult win against Darren Till, and his first loss to Israel Adesanya.

Whittaker works best from mid-range when he can stutter-step into crisp boxing combinations. When forced to operate from long-range, he lunges forward recklessly.

Similarly, Derek Brunson often comes forward recklessly with his chin in the air as he dives for takedowns. All three fighters walked themselves into Adesanya's counters due to their reckless forward movement.

Jared Cannonier, by contrast, is far more patient. He uses his jab, never rushing in on his opponents as he throws low kicks to slow them down. It is unlikely that Adesanya will outstrike Cannonier to the point of a finish as Cannonier does not walk himself into counterpunches.

The fight is likely to resemble Israel Adesanya's split-decision win over Yoel Romero as opposed to a complete blowout.

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#3 Cannonier's rhythm game

Much like Mark Hunt and Lyoto Machida, Jared Cannonier understands that rhythm in striking bouts is established only to be broken. Beyond mere patience, Cannonier often slows down the speed of his jab, disguising its quickness along with the strikes he builds off of it.

He feints and throws slow, non-committal strikes to gauge his foe's reactions, all while setting a measured rhythm that his opponents inevitably grow accustomed to.

This renders Cannonier a relatively difficult opponent to make reads on. This is especially true when Cannonier suddenly shifts gears, throwing strikes much faster than before as he breaks the previously established rhythm to catch his opponents off-guard.

Jan Blachowicz made consistent use of different rhythms with his blitz when he fought Israel Adesanya, making it a more difficult fight for the middleweight kingpin. Similarly, Cannonier's varied rhythm will likely pose an issue for Adesanya as he will get no consistent reads to inform his counterpunching.