Jared Cannonier silenced the Danish crowd with an upset TKO victory over adopted hometown hero Jack Hermansson in main event of UFC Copenhagen.
The main event of UFC Copenhagen (UFC Fight Night 160) on Saturday, the promotion’s debut in Denmark’s capital, featured a top European middleweight facing off against an invading American. Sweden’s Jack Hermansson had made a statement in 2019, defeating both David Branch and Jacare Souza to insert himself in the title picture. Entering Saturday’s headlining tilt against Jared Cannonier, Hermansson had the chance to claim a fifth straight win.
Doing so would make him a candidate for the winner of Robert Whittaker vs. Israel Adesanya at UFC 243 in October. But Cannonier, coming off wins against Branch and the legendary Anderson Silva, was looking to play spoiler.
Round 1
The affair opened with Hermansson grazing Cannonier with a groin shot that briefly stopped the action. They restarted, and the Joker shot deep on the hips on Cannonier but couldn’t get the American down. On his second attempt, he did take the former heavyweight down and hit a suplex on the way up. He briefly had the back of Cannonier but the American scrambled to his feet once again.
Cannonier began to find his range — popping Hermansson with a half dozen jabs and some hard calf kicks. The Swedish fighter desperately tried to get the fight to the canvas but struggled to get the ‘Killa Gorilla’ down. The two fighters exchanged some hard leg kicks as the round came to the end with Cannonier getting the better of the exchanges — even buckling the Swedish fighter with one of them.
Cageside Press Scored the Round 10-9 for Cannonier
Round 2
Hermansson shot in on a takedown and was hit with a perfectly timed uppercut. The Swede fell to his back and Cannonier opened up with a plethora of hard ground strikes. Hermansson tried to avoid the shots but couldn’t. Referee Mark Goddard had mercy on Hermansson and stopped the contest, giving Cannonier a second-round TKO victory.
The win moves Cannonier to 3-0 since moving down to the UFC middleweight division, while Hermansson sees a four-fight winning streak get snapped.
Result: Jared Cannonier def. Jack Hermansson by TKO, Round 2, 0:27
