Jared Cannonier interested in “fun fight” with Khamzat Chimaev if he beats Marvin Vettori

Jared Cannonier is open to being the first-ranked middleweight to fight Khamzat Chimaev.

Chimaev has not fought since last September when he submitted Kevin Holland in the first round – but he badly missed weight, which resulted in the opponent change. Since then, he hasn’t got a fight booked and although there are rumors of him facing Kamaru Usman next, if that doesn’t happen Cannonier thinks he and Chimaev would be a fun fight.

“I have thought about that possibility. I think there’s a chance that they try to make that matchup after this next fight since they already have a contenders fight scheduled so that’s a potentiality, but then I’d seen where they announced him and Kamaru Usman potentially fighting… “Absolutely. The thought has definitely crossed my mind of fighting him and what that would be like,” Cannonier said to MiddleEasy. “Yeah, that’s definitely a fun fight and I’m not saying no to any fight. So if they called me and said it’s Chimaev, I’m like, ‘Hey, let’s do it.’ But right now, I’m on course. I’m on a path for the title. That’s what I want and that’s what I’m going for.”

RELATED: Khamzat Chimaev takes aim at ‘not good’ Paulo Costa for taking a fight with Ikram Aliskerov.

Although Jared Cannonier is open to the fight with Khamzat Chimaev, in order for that fight to make sense he will need to beat Marvin Vettori in the main event of UFC Vegas 76 on June 17. It’s a big fight in the middleweight division but with the winner of Robert Whittaker vs. Dricus Du Plessis getting the next title shot, Cannonier thinks he may need another fight after Vettori, which is why he’s interested in fighting Chimaev.

Cannonier is coming off a split decision win over Sean Strickland back in December and before that, suffered a decision loss to Israel Adesanya for the middleweight title. The loss to Adesanya snapped his two-fight win streak as he had beaten Derek Brunson and Kelvin Gastelum.