After a weird start to the PPV portion of the card, UFC 276 started to really get going after Barberena vs Lawler was a banger, Pereira vs Strickland ended in devastating fashion, and then Volkanovski vs Holloway was an absolute masterclass. This all led up to a main event that didn't really cap the night off the way that most would have liked. Coming into the fight, I was concerned that this fight may have that kind of flow to it, but I was holding out hope that a fresh opponent would have Israel Adesanya fighting with a little more intensity and purpose than the last few performances, but ultimately, we got another very comfortable fight for Izzy. I caught maybe 4 minutes of a post fight show on the MMA Fighting YouTube and Mike Heck was making a point that I 100% agree with. Obviously, no one thinks that fight was exciting or all that entertaining in any way. No one is going back to watch that fight a second time. However, it seems like Izzy gets all of the blame, but that isn't completely fair. Jared Cannonier is also at least partially responsible for the way the fight played out, so he should be mentioned when discussing how this fight didn't deliver the way we wanted it to. While I do agree with him that both parties share the responsibility, I think Izzy gets more of the blame because this isn't a new occurrence for him. The last Whittaker fight was close, so I don't hold that one against him as much, but the last Vettori fight as well as the Romero fight were both incredibly slow. Combine that with the second Whittaker fight and losing a slower fight to Jan Blachowicz and Izzy has sort of build up a reputation as just gliding through these slow paced decisions. I'm not trying to imply that there's anything wrong with that, but it just is what it is. Adesanya's goal should be to win the fight in the easiest way possible and that is largely what he is doing. However, that just doesn't make for the most entertaining product for the viewers. Very rarely in life can someone have it all and this is just one of those spots. Izzy's path of least resistance will typically result in less exciting fights unless his opponent does something to force him to fight in a more entertaining way. The Gastelum fight, the first Whittaker fight, and the Paulo Costa fight all saw his opponent come forward and force Izzy to engage in a more meaningful and impactful way, and those are coincidentally the three fights that they show highlights from when they're selling the next Izzy PPV. All out, crazy back and forth fights all of the time don't typically result in long winning streaks and title reigns, unless you're Charles Oliveira I guess (and Tony Ferguson, but he had the streak without the title) and Izzy has made that trade off. I think Cannonier is "getting a pass" here because this isn't his normal type of fight. He is known for being a pretty fun fighter to watch, so when he turns in a fight that isn't as exciting, people are more likely to give him the benefit of the doubt because his larger body of work shows that a slow performance is an outlier. With that said, I don't think this was a completely awful fight. I'm definitely not going to watch it again, but there's way worse fights that have happened. We're not that far removed from a Holm vs Vieira main event so, I'm not going to overreact and pretend this is the worst main event ever or that it caused this PPV to be awful.
As for Izzy's performance, he was obviously very good. His style has evolved to the point where he is going to be incredibly tough to beat. His technical kick boxing skill is really second to none at this point and he combines it with height and length that few can match at 185 lbs. His ability to read his opponents and skirt along the outside of the cage makes him incredibly difficult to hit as well. Over the years, his wrestling and grappling have gotten to the point where he doesn't get taken down often and even when he does, he isn't held down for very long, if at all. Izzy displayed his mastery of distance management again Saturday and left Cannonier largely unable to mount any offense beyond single strikes here and there. His movement was just too much and allowed him to land his low kicks and jabs with enough frequency to out point Cannonier in at least 4 of the 5 rounds. I really don't have a ton to say because this is just what Izzy does. He fought to the plan that he always has and did so with little resistance. He was able to keep the fight at range for the most part and land his strikes while absorbing virtually no damage. Normally I break these up, but because my evaluation of his performance was so short, I'll just talk about his next fight in this one. It is pretty clear that the UFC wants Izzy to fight Alex Pereira next and Izzy acknowledged as much post fight. Pereira knocked out Sean Strickland in explosive fashion in order to secure his title shot and now it is just a matter of when it gets booked. My hope is that they cash in on this rather soon because the story is hot now. The last thing we need is for the interest to fizzle out and not see this fight until December. Pereira represents really the only clear challenger for Izzy right now and he actually possesses the set of skills that could make this fight feel competitive. Pereira is probably the only fighter in the division who could even say that he is Izzy's equal in terms of technical kick boxing without getting laughed at, maybe besides Robert Whittaker and even that is kind of a stretch. What Pereira brings that Whittaker didn't is that he can match Izzy's size as well. Whittaker wasn't completely out classed technically, but Izzy has such a size and length advantage over him that it was just too much to overcome consistently. Pereira can match Izzy's length while being significantly larger in terms of overall muscle mass. He also brings a noticeable power advantage and will be dangerous the entire time. If Izzy is going to be content to just touch him from the outside, he is going to have to be completely focused the entire 25 minutes because Pereira has legitimate 1 shot knockout type of power, as we just saw. I'm pretty interested in this matchup as things stand, but I think another 5 month layoff will see that go down slightly. As interesting as this fight is, I think the UFC is playing a dangerous game by rushing Pereira to the title. If he actually beats Izzy and takes the belt, he'll probably lose it to the first opponent he has that can wrestle for more than a round without gassing out. Part of me kind of wants to see Izzy wrestle him and work for a submission, just for the novelty of it, but I don't think he'll do it.
For Jared Cannonier, I don't think there's any shame in this loss. He didn't necessarily fight poorly, he just didn't really have the right set of tools that it is going to take to beat Adesanya outside of the power to get a flash knockout. My worry for Cannonier was that he wouldn't be able to really get to Adesanya due to Izzy's distance management and movement and that is largely what happened. Cannonier was able to have some success with his leg kicks, at least at times, which I didn't think he would have as much of an opportunity to land. He also did a decent job in the clinch over the second half of the fight, but that just really isn't Cannonier's realm and he didn't have the refined skills in those areas to really pin Izzy to the cage for long stretches and damage him there. I've started living tweeting the events and I said it yesterday about both Cannonier and Max Holloway (albeit slightly different for Max). I said that they had their moments, but they were really just moments. Izzy was controlling and winning long stretches of 2, 3, or 4 minutes, that were only briefly and momentarily interrupted by an exchange or two where Cannonier did some good things. Despite the fight ending 49-46 on two cards, as well as mine, I wouldn't say that Cannonier wasn't competitive. He didn't get run out of the building, but it just sort of felt like he was fighting at a noticeable disadvantage. Izzy was just able to control the fight for a vast majority of the run time and Cannonier was really left unable to do much to turn the tide for more than 20 seconds at a time. Realistically, I think Cannonier did about as well as he could have, but it was just a really tough matchup for him. He handled himself well and maybe he learned something about Izzy if he is able to work his way back for another chance.
As for that next chance, I don't think the book is completely closed on a potential rematch at some point in the future. There aren't really a ton of options going forward if Adesanya keeps winning, so a few wins for Cannonier and he could be right back in the same spot. Andre Muniz seems to be the next guy who is trying to push for a title shot after Pereira and he may be one more really nice win away. Dricus Du Plessis will probably get a nice push now that he is going to be in the rankings, but he may be a couple of fights away. Nassourdine Imavov is a guy that I believe in to potentially challenge for a title, but they have him fighting an unranked opponent next, so I'm not sure exactly what his timeline looks like at this point. Unfortunately for Cannonier, time is working against him as he is a bit older than people probably realize at 38. Even then, I don't think it is without of the question that with a couple of wins, continued Izzy wins, and maybe a break or two, that he could be back in a title fight by the end of 2023. As things currently stand, there are a few options for Cannonier to start that climb back. The first option is Sean Strickland. This one is probably the most likely in my book as it all just fits together too easily. Assuming that Strickland checks out medically after the knockout, they will be on the same relative timeline. They're both coming off of a loss on the same card and will be relatively close together in the rankings. That fight would also be a pretty fun one stylistically and could probably be built as a Fight Night main event considering both of them have five round experience now. This fight has so much going for it that it has to be considered the leader in the clubhouse. The only thing holding it back would be if Strickland is more hurt than he seemed on social media. The second and third option are both Darren Till and Jack Hermansson. Till vs Hermansson is the co-main event of the upcoming London card and, regardless of outcome, I think either could make some sense. The winner will have just turned around a losing streak and would be looking to make a push for a title shot of their own. They're currently sitting at 7 and 8 in the rankings, so a win could push them into the back end of the top 5. If that were the case, a fight with Cannonier would be the opportunity the needed to earn a title shot. The loser would also make some sense given that both fighters are trending in the same direction, but they would be so far apart in the rankings that it may not come together as easily. The final option is Paulo Costa. Costa is booked to fight Luke Rockhold next month, but we'll see if that fight actually happens. Regardless of outcome, I think Costa vs Cannonier fits. Costa isn't getting a title shot even with a win as he has multiple losses in a row and is fighting a version of Rockhold that we just don't know what to expect from. A win puts him on the short list of guys who are in that talk and a win over Cannonier would serve as the next step to his second shot at Izzy. With a loss, that puts Costa in sort of the same boat as Cannonier and the fight would serve as an opportunity to get one of them back on track. I really don't see Luke Rockhold as an option for Cannonier regardless of outcome. Luke has been away for so long that it is hard to get a feel for where his head is at. Just based on the timing of things and how hard it has been for him to work his way back and get fights booked, I get the feeling that a loss, especially a bad one, may be enough for him to walk away for good. Despite Costa's stock really falling recently, I think a win over him might be enough to put Luke back in a title fight. Given the slim pickings for Izzy's following defenses (assuming he retains), a former champion defeating someone in the top 6 might be all it takes for that title fight to take place and honestly, I wouldn't even hate it. I think I would rather see Izzy vs Rockhold than rush someone like Till, Hermansson, or Muniz into a title fight just because they need someone.
What do you guys think? What is your takeaway from the fight? How excited are you to see Izzy vs Alex Pereira? Who do you want to see next for Jared Cannonier? Leave any and all thoughts below. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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