I appreciate you asking me to check myself. It's always interesting to handicap the effect of a fighter changing class. Sometimes it is unclear to me, not with Cannonier. He was 236 in 2015 without any nutrition or true martial artist training. He fought big HWs and LHWs. His power translates scarily and he is not slow. It works big time. I trust he has learned from his wandering loss to Jan and wild ko with Reyes 20 lbs ago.
Reyes caught him at light HW and I do fear that if Whitaker hurts him it is thru hi leg kick. He has fought three times at MW. All super solid, Anderson Silva may be past peak but taking him out in Brazil is awe inspiring. Hermanson is very tuff but once he felt the power he was like fuck this. He was scared. Cannonier is peaking. He passes my eye test. Challenges against Blachowitcz and Branch is more great seasoning. Cannonier is certainly not afraid of Whitaker.
I love Whitaker and he may look kind of stacked at 185 to mere mortals but not Cannonier. Jared will look much bigger in cage. Cannonier has 4" reach, Izzy about 6.5". Whitaker wants to take it to the mat, go ahead, I'm 100% certain Cannonier will blast out. Jared is a martial artist not just a knock out dude.
Whitaker literally gets knocked down every fight. Til took him down in 1st and imo Till is about as overrated as any fighter anyway. That fight was ugly. Till was on one leg. Whitaker fought ugly and barely won. Wonder boy knocked out Whitaker out at 170lbs. I dont want to hear about Yoel. He is way overrated. His olympic wrestling has not translated well at all. He fights slow than tries something explosive. Souza is same kind of dude, durable but not exactly scary. Jared is much bigger too.
There ages seem opposite as Jared is 7 years older but since 2015 he is on a very real upward trajectory. Adesanya, Dana and Shelby certainly think so. Quite frankly, I'm shocked at the love for Whittaker, but whatever.
I will admit listening to Chael breakdown this fight I wanted to fight him. He got it all wrong. Every analyst is on the Reaper. That's fine. I'm comfortable making a big bet with Cannonier. I trust him with my money. Oh he can lose, but this is no coin flip fight. I think Cannonier should be minimally be -200. I think BOL opened him at -145 and it was immediately bet down. It will be interesting if line actually does flip. If it does I'm betting more. My back is up and I am invested in the Killa Gorilla.
but its nominal. Porier did look petrified of some reactionary takedown too. John Fitch says the grip of Khabib is so strong it shocks even the most seasoned. This fight has the potential to be all that. I havent bet it myself. Have you?