Dana White has confirmed that Jared Cannonier will be next in line for Israel Adesanya after his title defence at UFC 271.
Adesanya made the fourth defence of his UFC middleweight title on Saturday night by outpointing Robert Whittaker over five rounds in their rematch.
'The Last Stylebender' avoided the inevitable takedown threat from Whittaker and outstruck him in every round to win by 48-47 twice and 49-46 on the judges' scorecards.
Earlier on the main card, No.3 ranked contender Jared Cannonier picked up his second win on the bounce by stopping Derek Brunson with some brutal elbows.
Cannonier used his post-fight interview to grab the attention of White and demand his shot at the 185-pound title, with White later confirming 'Killa Gorilla' would fight for the belt next.
"I was excited to see that fight to see how it was going to play out," White said of Cannonier vs Brunson at the post-fight press conference. It was an awesome fight."
And when asked about Cannonier's request for a title shot, he said: "Yeah, I'm not going to say no to Cannonier."
Cannonier has fought at heavyweight and light heavyweight during his current UFC stint, but has found a home at 185-pounds since moving to the weight class in 2018.
The 'Killa Gorilla' has gone 5-1 at middleweight with wins over Jack Hermansson, Kelvin Gastelum and now Brunson.
Adesanya wasn't watching Cannonier's fight in great detail as he was focused on his own bout, but still managed to keep an eye on the action.
"I wasn't watching in close detail, I just saw bits and pieces. I think I even saw he got rocked, I saw he got taken down and then he elbowed Brunson," he said.
And Adesanya said he told Cannonier before UFC 271 that he wanted him to beat Brunson.
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"He made a statement and I told him after the official weigh-ins 'please take this guy out so I can get some fresh meat," he continued.
Adesanya knocked out Brunson when the pair fought at UFC 230 in November 2018, with Brunson being keen to avenge the loss ever since.
But the No.4 ranked middleweight will now have to wait to get his shot at Adesanya as a loss to Cannonier has severely dented his title hopes.
Before his recent loss, Brunson revealed his two-fight plan that would see him retire from fighting if he avenged his loss to Adesanya and won the belt.
