Jared Cannonier Confident He Won Three Rounds Against Sean Strickland

The UFC Fight Night 216 headliner wasn’t the type of bout that produced a definitive winner.

That was reflected in the final scorecards, as Jared Cannonier captured a contentious split-decision triumph over Sean Strickland on Saturday night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The verdict drew harsh criticism from Strickland in the aftermath, and not a single round was scored unanimously by cageside judges Derek Cleary, Sal D’Amato and Junichiro Kamijo. Cannonier, whose approach included a barrage of low kicks and occasional bursts of power punches, believed that he did enough to earn the nod on the scorecards.

“I definitely thought I won at least three of the five rounds,” Cannonier said at the post-fight press conference. “I felt confident that I won three out of five rounds. On top of that, I felt confident that I won the fight in general.”

As expected, Strickland did some of his best work with his jab while confounding his opponent with movement and distance management. Cannonier said to a previous experience in a title bout against ex-champ Israel Adesanya at UFC 276 this past summer proved to be beneficial on Saturday night.

“I would say he’s good at what he does. He’s really good at moving forward, putting that jab out there, and then getting out of the way,” Cannonier said. “If I gave him the look like, ‘Here I come,’ he was already aware, primed, and either ready to counter with his check hook or whatever combination he was going to throw or just move away and avoid it all together. But that was one thing we had been working on leading up to the [Israel] Adesanya fight, entering on our opponents without getting overextended, and once you get in, then you can start opening up with the big strikes that I love so much.”

While it wasn’t necessarily the type of performance that will propel him right back into another title shot, Cannonier has won three of his last four in the Octagon and rebounds from the loss to Adesanya. That, he believes, is enough to keep him near the top of the championship discussion.

“If not a title shot, hopefully the contender’s match [is next],” Cannonier said. “That’s what I would hope for. Either a title shot to begin 2023 or the fight that gets me a title shot in middle or late 2023.”