Jared Cannonier Not Looking For Shortcuts To a Title Shot

Jared Cannonier spoke with MMAjunkie ahead of his fight with Jan Blachowicz at UFC on FOX 26. Highlights are below:

On not taking shortcuts: “I’m not trying to get on the fast track to anything. I’m trying to work my way up. I ain’t in a rush; I ain’t trying to get all famous and be the next Conor McGregor, doing coke and beating up gangsters and (expletive) like that. I’m good. I’m humble. I’m content. I’m just happy to be fighting for this organization and getting paid good money to where I can just fight. A lot of people get in this sport (are) trying to be popular, trying to be a personality. I’m just a person. I’m not a personality. There’s more to being just a person. People get in there and fake it and act. I ain’t trying to do all that. I ain’t got time for that. I just want to fight, be with my family. That’s it.”

On Antonio Rogerio Nogueira being flagged for a potential anti-doping violation that scratched him from their fight: “I’ve said it before: I don’t want to say this guy is juicing. That’s Nogueira. He’s a legend. He’s been doing this for quite a long time. He said it was a tainted supplement, so I’m going to reserve my scorn and all that good stuff. I’m just happy USADA is out there doing its job and catching these guys, leveling out the playing field. It would have been upsetting if I would have fought him and then he would have popped hot afterwards. It’s part of the culture. I don’t know what it is. People are doing it, and I’m glad they’re getting caught.”

On a move to middleweight: “I sweat a lot, and I still have a lot of fat to lose. I definitely want to try 185 in 2018, but I got this 205 fight ahead of me, so that’s all that’s on my mind.”

On his plan against Blachowicz: “People already see me as a striker, but they’re going to see an even better striker. They’re going to see an even better martial artist on top of that. I may even take somebody down if I get tired of punching them. But who knows? All I know is there’s going to be a lot more knockouts on the horizon.”