Jared Cannonier has said he refuses to be a gatekeeper in the UFC, having seen off 33-year-old Gregory Rodrigues at the age of 40 on Saturday.
Cannonier is one of two UFC fighters, alongside Conor McGregor, to hold knockout wins at three weights. His fourth-round TKO of Rodrigues was his latest stoppage at middleweight, where he challenged for the title in 2022.
And Cannonier, despite his advanced age as far as sport goes, believes he can vie for gold again.
“I would like somebody ranked higher than me,” said the American, No 7 in the division, at a post-fight press conference. “Unfortunately, all the people ranked higher than me are either in line to get a title shot, are gonna wait for a title shot, or [they] just beat me.
“Four people in the rankings ahead of me have beaten me. Dricus [Du Plessis] and Khamzat [Chimaev] are the only ones I haven’t fought. As long as I keep winning, [I’ve got rematches ahead of me]. But I’m not gonna rule anything out. Shoot, if they say, ‘Hey, Jared, we need you to fight Dricus next for the belt,’ I’m like: ‘Hell, yes, I’m ready.’
“I don’t think anybody’s put that [gatekeeper] tag on me, it was just when I was doing all these interviews, the way I was answering all these questions... it sounded as if I was a gatekeeper. You guys kept saying: ‘You’re fighting this up-and-comer,’ ‘You’re fighting a second up-and-comer,’ ‘You’re fighting another up-and-comer.’ Doesn’t that sound like, ‘Hey, you’re a gatekeeper’?
“That’s not how I see myself, though. That’s never how I’m gonna see myself, that’s never what I’m going to be. I’m not a gatekeeper, I am – I don’t know – a fighter. I couldn’t come up with anything clever, so!”
Cannonier was dropped twice by Rodrigues in round one, before fighting back to almost finish the Brazilian in round three. “I didn’t hear the bell ring at the end of that round,” Cannonier revealed in the cage after the bout, “so I thought I’d finished the fight. I got up and was looking around like, ‘How come nobody’s as excited as I am?’ Then they reaffirmed that it was just the end of the round.”
Cannonier would ultimately seal the win in round four, dropping Rodrigues with a barrage of strikes against the fence.
“My corner continued to deliver the message of how they saw it on the outside,” Cannonier said. “I had him against the ropes, he was hurt, he was slowing down, I was able to finish. My energy... I felt great, I could do this for five more rounds if we needed to – without getting hit, of course!
“I guess I was hurt enough [in round one] to get dropped on my ass a couple times, but naturally so: Gregory hits hard as hell, and he was slinging big f***ing 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. I’d rather die on my feet than die on my back.”
