Jared Cannonier and former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker will collide at UFC 254 and one interested spectator for that bout will be UFC President Dana White.
White says that if Cannonier gets past Whittaker, he will get a shot at the UFC middleweight title.
“Yeah, that’s the fight if Cannonier wins, and I love that about Israel,” White said at the UFC 253 post-fight press conference (via Farah Hannoun & John Morgan of MMA Junkie). “He’s ready for who’s next. ‘Who else thinks they can beat me?’ The kid is an absolute stud. Tonight, congratulations to him and Costa; they broke a bunch of record tonights, it’s unbelievable. Their staredown – when we went live, their staredown was the biggest staredown ever. Most viewed ever in UFC history. It beat Khabib (Numagomedov) and Conor (McGregor) by 1.5 million when the show started. I don’t know what it’s at now.”
There is no word at this time as to what will happen with Whittaker if he is victorious at UFC 254.
UFC 254 takes place on Saturday, October 24 from Fight Island in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi with Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which streams live on ESPN+ pay-per-view.
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