Former title challenger Jared Cannonier returns on November 21 in Doha, Qatar. In the middleweight division, he takes on Ikram Aliskerov during UFC Qatar. The event takes place at the ABHA Arena. It’s the second time the UFC has held an event in Qatar.
Multiple sources have confirmed the match-up to Heavy.com after an initial report from DagSport TV. In the UFC media rankings, Cannonier and Aliskerov sit back-to-back at number 11 and 12, respectively. However, while Aliskerov is also ranked 12th in the meta rankings, Cannonier does not appear on the meta list.
Still Going Strong
The 42-year-old Jared Cannonier signed with the UFC in 2015 after going 7-0 on the regional scene. Cannonier fought back then in the heavyweight division. After losing his UFC debut against Shawn Jordan and winning his sophomore appearance against Cyril Asker, Cannonier decided to go down to light-heavyweight. After beating Ion Cutelaba in a “Fight of the Night” performance, he lost three of his next four fights. Those losses came to future champions Glover Teixeira, Jan Blachowicz, and future title challenger Dominick Reyes. It made Cannonier decide to drop another weight class to proceed in the middleweight division. Looking back, it might be the best decision he made. After three TKO wins, including a victory over former champion and legend Anderson Silva, Cannonier took on former champion Robert Whittaker.
In a competitive fight, Cannonier lost by unanimous decision. A title fight looked far away, but wins over Kelvin Gastelum and Derek Brunson put Cannonier in top contention to fight for the title against champion Israel Adesanya. In July 2022, Cannonier lost a very uneventful fight for the title via unanimous decision. The American fighter bounced back with a close win against Sean Strickland and a victory over the ultra-tough Marvin Vettori. Unfortunately for Cannonier, he couldn’t get past Nassourdine Imavov. Since the loss to Imavov, Cannonier has fought four more times. He only won against Gregory Rodrigues and is currently on a two-fight losing streak. He now has to defend his spot in the rankings against Ikram Aliskerov.
Underrated And Dangerous
Aliskerov is nine years younger than Cannonier and made his professional debut in 2012. The Russian fighter fought most of his fights outside the UFC for the Brave CF promotion. Between 2017 and 2021, he was one of the biggest names in that organisation. He won nine out of ten fights but never fought for the title. His only loss came by knockout against Khamzat Chimaev. In 2022, Aliskerov fought during the Contender Series to earn a contract with the UFC. Via Kimura submission in the first round, he beat Mario Sousa to secure his contract. Aliskerov had an amazing debut year in 2023 in the UFC. He beat both Phil Hawes and Warlley Alves via knockout in the first round.
The UFC was sold on the Russian fighter and offered him in 2024 a short-notice fight against former champion Robert Whittaker in the main event of UFC Saudi Arabia. Aliskerov was finished by knockout in the first round by the Australian fighter. Aliskerov took some time to recover and came back last year with two wins over Andre Muniz and JunYong Park. Earlier this year, he beat Brunno Ferreira by unanimous decision. With a three-fight winning streak, he now takes on Jared Cannonier.
UFC Qatar
- Jiri Prochazka vs. Navajo Stirling
- Aljamain Sterling vs. Kevin Vallejos
- Dan Hooker vs. Brian Ortega
- Asu Almabayev vs. Kyoji Horiguchi
- Jared Cannonier vs. Ikram Aliskerov
- Aleksandre Topuria vs. Santiago Luna
- Shamil Gaziev vs. Tallison Teixeira
- Amir Albazi vs. Alessandro Costa
Former Title Challenger Fights at UFC Qatar