Jared Cannonier announces that he will need surgery to repair a torn left pectoral, dashing hopes for a clash with Darren Till in the next few weeks.
Can’t fight ‘til fall, but Till’s still trolling 😂 pic.twitter.com/bWcyUQXn41
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) February 15, 2020
Top UFC middleweight contender Jared Cannonier announced on Instagram late Friday that he has suffered a torn left pectoral muscle and will be out until the fall. The announcement comes just days after fellow middleweight Darren Till had announced that he had accepted a fight with Cannonier.
“The Killa Gorilla” Jared Cannonier had previously been scheduled to fight at UFC 248 on March 7 against former champion Robert Whittaker, but Whittaker had to withdraw from the bout for personal reasons. When the news broke, a replacement was immediately sought out to keep Cannonier on the card with names like Till and Kelvin Gastelum being thrown out as possible candidates.
Till had previously been the frontrunner despite previous reports by Dana White and others that he may be unavailable for the fight. On Monday, however, Till had announced that he had accepted the fight and that it would be at UFC 248.
In his post, Cannonier called out Till for taking so long to accept the bout and their back-and-forth that involved fans on social media. In response, Till responded simply with “Jared?” in a comment on Cannonier’s post.
Most pundits and fans felt that Cannonier was the consensus top contender for a title shot behind Paulo Costa going into 2020. With the news of his injury, the middleweight division will now await to see if current champion Israel Adesanya can get past Yoel Romero next month and whether or not Costa will be available this summer as previously expected.
