For the first time in a while, Jared Cannonier is back in the winner’s circle.
The long-time middleweight contender snapped his recent losing streak on Saturday night, stopping rising 185-pound name Gregory Rodrigues within five rounds to secure a hard-fought victory. Cannonier’s win headlined a UFC “Fight Night” card from the APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
It wasn’t clear from the start of the fight that Cannonier was going to emerge with a win. In fact, he had to battle some significant adversity before getting his hand raised.
Rodrigues got ahead early with a strong opening five rounds to the fight. Consistently advancing against Cannonier, Rodrigues found a home for his right cross punch, often coming after a jab to set up the shot. The Brazilian’s sharp boxing put Cannonier in trouble, dropping him twice within just a few minutes. The output of damage from Rodrigues early was significant, and something had to change if Cannonier was going to pull out a win.
Cannonier made significant adjustments by the second round, no longer being on his backfoot during striking exchanges. He instead started to press Rodrigues with his own shots and showed his ability to counter-strike against him as well. This swing in momentum was only aided by Rodrigues slowing his output on the feet, possibly due to fatigue or the strategy of conserving energy to last the bout’s full five rounds.
The third round was a back-and-forth battle on the feet, with Rodrigues re-establishing a game plan to advance on the feet while Cannonier continued to connect with his own shots. The frame was hard to score, at least that was until a short elbow to the head from Cannonier in a clinch position floored Rodrigues with just seconds to go. Cannonier then spent the closing moments of the round throwing ground and pound strikes until the clock expired.
Rodrigues survived until the fourth round, but the damage he consumed before meant that he was on borrowed time. Cannonier immediately pressed forward with strikes to start the round, connecting with a series of punches to the head and body of Rodrigues. Cannonier earned a knockdown early in the round, forcing the referee to end the fight in just 21 seconds.
“Gregory hits hard as hell,” Cannonier said during his post-fight interview. “He was slinging big a** shots. I was able to weather the storm and keep my composure, even in those really tough spots, and work my way back up to my feet.”
The hard-fought performance puts seventh-ranked Cannonier back into the win column following a pair of losses against high-profile fighters in the division over the past year. Last June, Cannonier took a controversial fourth-round stoppage loss to Nassourdine Imavov, who is now one of the division’s top contenders. And just a few months later, he came up unsuccessful after five rounds against Caio Borralho.
Before then, Cannonier was one of the division’s top names and was potentially en route to another shot at the UFC Middleweight Championship, something he previously challenged for in 2022. With five-round wins over Sean Strickland—who went on to claim the 185-pound belt a few months later—and Marvin Vettori, he stood as high as fourth place less than a year ago.
Now back to his winning ways, 40-year-old Cannonier is eyeing a fight against someone higher than him in the standings. He acknowledged that many of the potential fights he could get next would see him facing a past rival for the second time, like the aforementioned Strickland or fourth-ranked Israel Adesanya.
“I would like somebody ranked higher than me,” Cannonier said on Saturday night. “Unfortunately, everybody ranked higher than me are either in line to get a title shot, or are going to wait for a title shot, or just [previously] beat me.”
Saturday’s result shut down an opportunity for fan-friendly finisher Rodrigues to break into the middleweight top 10. “Robocop” had put together a trio of wins since August 2023, including a pair of stoppages due to strikes.
The former LFA champ, who entered Saturday unranked, hoped that a first UFC main event appearance would give him a higher status in the division than ever before. Instead, he’s now looking to regain momentum from a UFC loss for the third time in his career.
Here are the quick results from Saturday’s “Fight Night” card:
Main Card (7:00PM EST / 4:00PM PST) (ESPN+)
Bout 12: Jared Cannonier def. Gregory Rodrigues via TKO, Strikes (RD 4, 0:21)
Bout 11: Youssef Zalal def. Calvin Kattar via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 10: Edmen Shahbazyan def. Dylan Budka via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 1:35)
Bout 9: Nazim Sadykhov def. Ismael Bonfim via TKO, Doctor Stoppage (RD 1, 5:00
Bout 8: Andre Petroski def. Rodolfo Vieira via Decision, Unanimous
Preliminary Card (4:00PM EST / 1:00PM PST) (ESPN+)
Bout 7: Jose Delgado def. Connor Matthews via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 2:58)
Bout 6: Angela Hill def. Ketlen Souza via Decision, Split
Bout 5: Rafael Estevam def. Jesus Aguilar via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 4: Gabriel Bonfim def. Khaos Williams via Submission, D’Arce Choke (RD 2, 4:58)
Bout 3: Elijah Smith def. Vince Morales via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 2: Valter Walker def. Don’Tale Mayes via Submission, Heel Hook (RD 1, 1:17)
Bout 1: Jacqueline Cavalcanti def. Julia Avila via Decision, Unanimous
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