LAS VEGAS – Jared Cannonier remembers the first time he met Israel Adesanya. It was Nov. 3, 2018, the night he defeated David Branch in his middleweight debut at UFC 230. Adesanya also fought and won earlier in the evening against Derek Brunson in just his fourth UFC bout. Both men got TKO finishes.
Cannonier was already a fan of Adesanya’s at that point and afterward spoke with him backstage at Madison Square Garden.
“I introduced myself to him and congratulated him on his fight, because I got to watch his fight,” Cannonier told reporters Wednesday at UFC 276 media day. “It was kind of interesting, because he was respectful, but I felt like he was kind of sizing me up at the same time. He even said, ‘Yeah, we’ll see each other.’ And I was like, ‘Well, if we do, let’s have a good-ass fight.’ He said, ‘Oh yeah.’ He pretty much reaffirmed or, you know, reasserted the fact that we’ll fight. It’s pretty interesting that here we are now.”
