Jared Cannonier vs. Sean Strickland: UFC Fight Night 216 Odds, Prediction

Payton Matthews
December 16, 2022

This could be a pick’em by fight time with Sean Strickland at -120 on the MMA odds and Jared Cannonier at -110.

Jared Cannonier -155
Sean Strickland +120

Jared Cannonier UFC Fight Night

Alex Pereira is the UFC middleweight champion, and the 38-year-old Cannonier (15-6), from Alaska, is ranked No. 3 in the division. “The Killa Gorilla” has fought about every big name possible in his weight class, including Derek Brunson (second-round KO win), Kelvin Gastelum (unanimous decision win), Robert Whittaker (unanimous decision loss), Anderson Silva (first-round TKO win), Dominick Reyes (first-round TKO loss) and Jan Blachowicz (unanimous decision loss at light heavyweight).

Cannonier comes off his first UFC title shot, a unanimous decision defeat to then-champion Israel Adesanya. While going the distance was admirable, it was pretty one-sided as the judges scored it 50-45, 49-46 and 49-46.

On Saturday, Cannonier is expecting a stand-up fight, and if so expects his power to be an advantage.

“I’m expecting him – I know he wants to get in my face,” Cannonier said. “He says he wants to go to the centre of the octagon, stand there and duke it out. I expect him to (be the) same old Sean Strickland. Try to pressure me, try to walk me down, stick his jab in my face, get off a couple kicks, maybe get his right hand off. That’s what I expect him to try to do. We have answers for those attempts.”

The 5-foot-11 Cannonier has a reach of 77 inches and his fights average 11:09. He lands 3.73 significant strikes per minute with 51 per cent accuracy and absorbs 3.50 per minute with 61 per cent defence. His takedown average is 0.19 per 15 minutes with 25 per cent accuracy, and his takedown defence is 65 per cent.

Ten of his wins are by KO/TKO, three by decision and two by submission – four of his six losses are via the judges. Cannonier is one of two fighters in UFC history to earn knockout victories in three weight classes. Conor McGregor also accomplished the feat. Cannonier has earned all six of his UFC stoppage victories by knockout.

Sean Strickland UFC Fight Night

The 31-year-old Strickland (25-4) is ranked seventh in the middleweight division. He was to fight Cannonier on Oct. 15 at UFC Fight Night 212, but the bout was scrapped after Strickland withdrew due to a finger infection and then rebooked for Saturday.

“Tarzan” had a six-fight winning streak snapped in July in a first-round knockout loss (punches) to current champion Alex Pereira – that wasn’t a title bout, however. Pereira knocked Strickland down with a left hook and then finished him off with the same. Strickland is yet to fight for a UFC belt but is a former King of the Cage middleweight champion.

Strickland, who continued sparring for this bout as recently as Tuesday and is known to try and distract opponents with his trash talk, said he intends to go into the cage with an open-minded approach.

“Maybe I’ll take him down”, he said. “Maybe I’ll kickbox.”

The 6-foot-1 Strickland has a reach of 76 inches and his fights average 13:07. He lands 5.54 significant strikes per minute with 40 per cent accuracy and absorbs 4.01 with 65 per cent defence. His takedown average is 1.14 per 15 minutes with 61 per cent accuracy, and his takedown defence is 85 per cent. Strickland has 11 wins by decision, 10 by KO/TKO and four by submission.

The over-under for rounds is 4.5 with the over a -135 favourite.