The UFC has finalized a number of big time matchups over the past few days and this evening we learned of another big time matchup. ESPN was the first to report earlier this evening that top middleweight contender and former title challenger Jared “The Killa Gorilla” Cannonier (17-6) will face off against Roman Dolidze (12-2).
The matchup will take place at a Fight Night on December 2nd. As of now, this fight is not planned to be the headliner of the fight night. Roman Dolidze entered the UFC for the first time with a perfect 6-0 professional record. He won his first two bouts before suffering a setback against Trevin Giles.
After losing to Giles, Dolidze would go on to win his next four including a knockout over Phil Hawes and a TKO win over Jack Hermansson. Following the Hermansson win, he got a shot against Marvin Vettori and lost a decision. Now, he gets back in there against another former title challenger.
UFC Fight Night
To be completely honest, I’m a little surprised by this booking for Jared Cannonier. Cannonier has won two straight including a dominant win over Marvin Vettori and then a very close split decision win over current middleweight champion Sean Strickland.
Cannonier was in the backup fighter for UFC 293 when Strickland dethroned Israel Adesanya. I expected better than the tenth ranked fighter in the division, but Cannonier is a company man and he’s willing to take another fight against anyone. Whatever gets him closer to the middleweight title.
Dating back to his move to 185, Cannonier is 7-2 with the two losses coming to Adesanya and former UFC middleweight champ Robert Whittaker. He’s one of the very best in the world and I bet he’s going to look to make a statement in December.