A potential middleweight title eliminator is slated for UFC 270,
as Derek
Brunson will square off against Jared
Cannonier on Jan. 22.
MMAjunkie.com was first to report the booking. UFC 270 doesn’t
currently have a location or headlliner, though the promotion is
reportedly targeting a middleweight championship rematch between
Israel
Adesanya and Robert
Whittaker for the main event.
The 37-year-old Brunson is currently in the midst of the second
five-bout winning streak of his UFC tenure. That stretch includes
triumphs over the likes of Darren Till,
Kevin
Holland and Edmen
Shahbazyan in headlining appearances in his last three outings.
The North Carolina native previously authored a five-bout winning
streak from August 2014 to September 2016 before losing four of his
next six inside the Octagon.
Cannonier, meanwhile, was on the verge of securing a 185-pound
title shot after successive triumphs against David
Branch, Anderson
Silva and Jack
Hermansson, but a decision loss to Whittaker at UFC 254 pushed
“The Killa Gorilla” back down the list of contenders. The
37-year-old MMA Lab representative bounced back in his last outing,
earning a three-round verdict over Kelvin
Gastelum at UFC on ESPN 29 on Aug. 21.