The UFC headed back to the Apex for a great fight night event UFC Vegas 75 which saw Jared Cannonier power past Marvin Vettori in an all-out war in a middleweight showdown in the main event.

Cannonier put on the best performance of his UFC middleweight career when he landed the most strikes in a single fight in the history of the middleweight division (241). This fight wasn't a walk in the park, Cannonier had to fight through adversity early on when Vettori rocked him in the early minutes. Once he was able to get his wits about him he then turned it up a notch and just put on an absolute beating on Vettori.

Jared Cannonier is now the No. 3 ranked middleweight contender after he defeated Marvin Vettori who was previously ranked third in the division. Now the question lies, what is next for the “Killa Gorilla” and we take a look at some of the potential matchups that could get him the coveted title shot that he is yearning for.

Khamzat Chimaev

This may not be the fight that Cannonier wants to take as he has been vocal about it in his recent post-fight interview but this is the most logical fight for him to get the title shot that he wants. Dana White and the UFC want Khamzat Chimaev to fight at middleweight and make a run at the title and this would be the quickest route to making that happen by giving him Cannonier a top-5 opponent with a ton of momentum. Cannonier swears that he will not fight anyone beneath him in the rankings or not even ranked at all unless he is guaranteed a title shot if he wins the fight and rightfully so after that amazing performance against Marvin Vettori.

Backup for Middleweight Championship at UFC 293

There aren't many options for Jared Cannonier at this point, especially with a No. 1 contender fight on the horizon between Robert Whittaker and Dricus Du Plessis. The winner of that fight (barring no big injuries) will be set to take on Israel Adesanya just two months later at UFC 293 on September 10th. It would be a smart idea for Cannonier to campaign to be the backup for that fight because seeing how it is two months after both Whittaker and Du Plessis fight there is a chance that one of them may not be able to make it to the fight and that will give Cannonier his second crack at Israel Adesanya.

Unfortunately, Cannonier is going to be in limbo for a bit until things fall into place in the middleweight division. The top of the division is pretty set and paired up to fight which just leaves Cannonier to take on someone underneath in the rankings, which is something he doesn't want, or take a backup for the title fight if the UFC offers that opportunity. It's going to be interesting to see how things pan out moving forward in the middleweight division with the No. 1 contender fight coming up as well as the middleweight title fight as well at UFC 293.