Jared Cannonier reveals plan for 'neutralizing' champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 276

The 38-year-old American won 'Performance of the Night' for his UFC 271 knockout victory over Derek Brunson in Texas back in February and is now charged with the task of inflicting only a second professional defeat on current middleweight champion Adesanya when they meet at the T-Mobile Arena.

'The Last Stylebender' defeated Robert Whittaker in a rematch on the same card and will look to defend his title for the fifth time.

He has already beaten the likes of Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa, Marvin Vettori and Robert Whittaker since winning the belt in 2019, but 'Killa Gorilla' Cannonier says he has worked out the key to victory.

"There's gonna be a lot of technique being employed. It's gonna be a very technical - it's gonna be a striker's delight, if you will. But it ain't gonna be no striking match. This is an MMA fight," Cannonier told MMA News.

"So, I don't plan on playing his striking game. He goads everybody into it. He confuses them, but then next thing you know, they're in there getting juiced. They didn't know they were playing right into his hands."

Cannonier is 5-1 since making his middleweight debut back in 2018 - losing only to Whittaker in October 2020 - and has claimed notable stoppages over Anderson Silva and Jack Hermansson.

He says he has no plans to hang about against Adesanya and hopes to finish the job as quickly as possible.

He said: "I'm planning on neutralizing. I want him to be neutralized.

"On no level do I wanna be flaccid out there. If he does something, he's gonna have to be super dynamic. He's gonna have to be very dynamic. He's gonna have to be like, red alert type s***… For me, this is going to be very fun, very interesting."

The co-main event of UFC 276 sees Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway meet in a highly-anticipated featherweight title trilogy.

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