Jared Cannonier Says He Wasn’t Insulting or Calling Israel Adesanya Out with UFC 230 Antics

Jared Cannonier spoke with MMAjunkie after his win over David Branch at UFC 230 about his attention-grabbing “marking the cage” moment in a reference to Israel Adesanya’s actions, plus more. Highlights are below:

On “marking his territory” on the cage during the event: “I wasn’t insulting; I wasn’t mimicking. When a dog walks down the street and he smells another dog has pissed right here, on his territory? I love Israel. I’m a huge fan of his. No insult. No disrespect. But when he walks in the cage, that’s his thing, that’s his cage; when I walk into the cage, the octagon, that’s my octagon. So I’m going to mark my territory and make my presence known. So whoever else walks in there, they can get a whiff of that well-hydrated piss and they’ll known that ‘The Killa Gorilla’ has been here.”

On whether it was a call-out: “I wasn’t calling him out. That’s what dogs – if people know how dogs act, then they wouldn’t read too much into it. But people like to put their little things into it. I respect him. If we end up fighting, we’ll end up fighting. It’s jut another person who I’m going to be fighting. Like I always say: Anybody, anytime, anywhere. And I’m going to prepare the best I can, for whomever. For everybody, as the matter of fact. For the very best, that’s who I prepare for. And the very best, and the very worst, is myself. I’m here to be better than myself.”