Jared Cannonier injury derailed Roman Dolidze, Khamzat Chimaev fights

Jared Cannonier reveals that a torn MCL derailed a potential Khamzat Chimaev fight at UFC 294 and his fight against Roman Dolidze.

UFC 294 was jam-packed with exciting fights which ended the night with a shocking knockout as Islam Makhachev retained his title ending Alexander Volkanovski in round one. Now that the dust has settled, Jared Cannonier spoke with Submission Radio revealing that he was offered to fight Khamzat Chimaev before Kamaru Usman ultimately stepped up to the plate.

Breaking News: Jared Cannonier reveals he was supposed to fight Khamzat at #UFC294, confirms he tore his MCL right after getting the call and is out of December fight with Roman Dolidze!

Wishing Jared a successful surgery and speedy recovery! 🙏

Interview
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— Submission Radio (@SubmissionRadio) October 23, 2023

On October 10th, Cannonier received a call from his manager stating that Paulo Costa was out of his fight against Khamzat Chimaev and they were offering for him to step in and the winner gets a shot at the new middleweight champion Sean Strickland. Before Cannonier could officially agree to the fight, later that day he tore his MCL in practice which ultimately not only took him out of the chance of getting the big win he'd been longing for but also took him out of his scheduled fight against Roman Dolidze at UFC Fight Night Austin on December 2nd.

This now puts the UFC in a bind as they will have to find an opponent for the No. seven ranked middleweight contender Roman Dolidze on relatively short notice. This would have been a big fight night for both competitors as it would have propelled them up the rankings in the now wide-open middleweight division.

Let's take a look at the confirmed fights for UFC Fight Night Austin which will be live at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas on December 2nd.