Jared Cannonier shares early thoughts on Jack Hermansson main event fight

Jared Cannonier is set for his first UFC main event as he takes on Jack Hermansson at UFC Copenhagen.

Cannonier is 2-0 since dropping down to middleweight win TKO wins over David Branch at UFC 230 and Anderson Silva at UFC 237. Although he has been on a roll, so too, has Hermansson. He submitted Branch in under a minute, then beat Jacare Souza by decision laying the foundation for this fight with Cannonier. Cannonier did not hesitate to accept this fight even with how good Hermansson has looked as of late.

“I am not one to say I want to fight him, but don’t offer me him. That is not what I’m here to do. I’m a fighter so whoever they pay me to fight, I’ll fight,” Cannonier said to BJPENN.com. “They are paying me good money so it doesn’t matter who it is.”

Cannonier has already started training camp where he is drilling jiu-jitsu and takedown defense more than normal. He understands the threat Jack Hermansson is on the ground but isn’t worried if the fight goes to the mat.

“The simple answer is don’t get taken down. But, if I do get taken down, get back up. It is that simple, that is it. Everything else will fall into place,” Cannonier said. 

Another threat Hermansson poses is his pressure, but Cannonier says that won’t be a problem. Both fighters like to be the one pushing the pace and moving forward, so the American knows he needs to be the one doing that. And, if he does, it should be a good night for him.

“Well, when Jack comes out, he comes out pretty hard, pretty fast. He comes with the intent to bring the fight to his opponents. What I see happening, is when he tries to do that to me, I’m going to give him a big no. When I am in the Octagon, I’m the one leading the dance,” Cannonier explained. “It is going to be me dictating what is going to happen and it is going to be a fun thing to watch.

“Or, he could be on point and double leg me and blast me into another galaxy and sink in a choke. You never know, I’m not focusing on what could, or what will. Just focusing on my abilities and being myself,” he continued. “The perfect world would be first punch ends his night. I’m not trying to have any wars with anybody, it is a fight. I want to finish this fight as quickly as I can.”

Should Jared Cannonier get past Jack Hermansson, he would be ranked fourth and into the title shot talks. And, he wants to head down to Australia the week after and watch the Robert Whittaker vs. Israel Adesanya title fight as the backup fighter.

“It definitely puts me in a position to make my very next fight for the title. It just puts me in a position that Alexander Volkanovski was in at UFC 240. He flew to Edmonton and he became the backup fighter. Am I considering the title shot? No. I’m focusing on the fight and doing what I need to do. I’ll definitely hope to go to Australia the week after for the middleweight title fight. Hopefully, the UFC sees the value and sends me there,” he concluded. 

Who do you think will win the fight between Jared Cannonier and Jack Hermansson at UFC Copenhagen?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 7/30/2019.