UFC stars had been stuffed with reward for Jared Cannonier after his gritty efficiency in the primary occasion of UFC Vegas 102 on Saturday night time.
The 40-year-old fought again from being dropped twice within the first spherical to cease Gregory Rodrigues within the fourth.
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Cannonier prevented his third straight UFC defeat along with his victory over ‘Robocop’, which led to large credit score from the promotion’s largest stars.
Simply 10 seconds into spherical 4, Cannonier had Rodrigues, 32, trapped in opposition to the cage.
He landed a stunning mixture, earlier than following up with a number of proper fingers that pressured the Brazilian down on one knee and referee Herb Dean had no alternative however to wave off the combat.
“Wow. What a comeback. He nonetheless received it,” wrote UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad on X.
UFC light-weight Terrance McKinney stated: “Jared inspiring dudes. A machine 40 years previous really a gorilla,”
In the meantime MMA pundit Brian Campbell added: “Cannonier is a dawg. Fearless, technical and brutal at UFC Vegas 102.”
Following his victory, Cannonier now holds the document for probably the most knockouts amongst lively UFC middleweights, with 5.
‘The Killa Gorilla’ had fought the highest-ranked middleweights heading into his Las Vegas important occasion.
He locked horns with Israel Adesanya for the 185-pound belt in 2022, earlier than taking up Sean Strickland and Martin Vettori, profitable each bouts.
Cannonier proceeded to lose consecutive fights to Nassourdine Imavov and Caio Borralho earlier than his win at UFC Combat Evening 251.
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The Texas native spoke to UFC Corridor of Famer Daniel Cormier after his combat and revealed how he bounced again to get the victory.
“I used to be damage sufficient to get dropped on my a** a few instances in that combat” he stated.
“However naturally so. Gregory hits arduous as hell and he was swinging massive photographs.
“I used to be in a position to climate the storm, maintain my composure, even in these actually robust spots, and work my manner again as much as my ft.
“I’d fairly die on my ft than die on my again.”
Cormier praised Cannonier as somebody who has been lively among the many greatest UFC middleweights for a very long time, though the latter did not appear to recognise his expertise as a bonus on combat night time.
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“If you step into the octagon on combat night time it’s model new each time,” he added.
“So it is arduous to essentially lean on that have, although that is my seventh important occasion.
“Expertise performs an element, however I need to lean on my staff, they helped me out by means of his entire camp, and my enhancements actually confirmed on this combat.”
Within the co-main occasion on Saturday night time, Youssef Zalas was awarded a unanimous determination victory over Calvin Kattar.
In the meantime, Edmen Shahbazyan secured a Efficiency of the Evening bonus along with his brutal first-round knockout over Dylan Budka.