Marvin Vettori is not intimidated by Jared Cannonier’s power and dares his UFC on ESPN 46 main event foe to go for the early knockout.
Ahead of Saturday’s middleweight main event, which takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and airs on ESPN following prelims on ESPN+ and ESPN2, Cannonier (16-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC) has expressed his desire to become the first man to stop Vettori (19-6-1 MMA, 9-4-1 UFC) in MMA competition.
Vettori has been beaten six times in his career, but has never been knocked out or submitted. He’s only been bested on points, but Cannonier made it clear that’s not the way he likes to win. He wants a violent ending, and for Vettori, that’s music to his ears.
“Sometimes I go back and watch my first few fights and it was all first-round finishes, because I was going in and just like, ‘I’m going to finish this fight,'” Vettori told reporters at Wednesday’s UFC on ESPN 46 media day. “I have that in me. If somebody brings it out – trust me, he ain’t going to survive. My will to just not let out there and not give up, it’s too strong. There’s no one that’s ever going to finish me. So, yes, let’s go Jared. Bring it out the first round.”
Vettori said he has no hostility toward Cannonier heading into fight night, but admits it’s a matchup he wanted. The Italian has fought the majority of the upper echelon in his 185-pound division, and there are only a few fresh pairings for him at this point. Cannonier was one of them, so in his mind, it was the perfect booking.
“It was the one missing, basically, in the top five,” Vettori said. “I said I want to do it. And also it excites me because he’s a good fighter and he’s going to bring the best out of me, so that’s what I want. A good opportunity to just show how good I am.”
Vettori said he’s entering UFC on ESPN 46 in pursuit of “the best performance of my life.” If he can get the job done, he will be on the short list of people in the discussion for a title shot. He admits there’s probably not much he could do to skip the winner of July’s UFC 290 matchup between Robert Whittaker and Dricus Du Plessis in the queue, but he’s not stressing it and will let everything unfold as it should.
“It is what it is, to be honest,” Vettori said. “My whole focus is just to go out and put on a great performance and finish him in a spectacular fashion, put on a very dominant performance. After that, I think everything will fall into place. I think that fight (between Robert Whittaker and Dricus Du Plessis) is kind of like a title eliminator. … We’ll let that fight play out and then I’m next. I’m next.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 46.
