Cannonier wants Imavov rematch after controversial, 'gut-wrenching' loss

Jared Cannonier says he has already rewatched the conclusion of his main event bout with Nassourdine Imavov seven or eight times since Saturday night when it happened, and according to the one-time UFC middleweight title contender, “gut-wrenching is an understatement” for how it felt in the moment and in the aftermath.

Cannonier had his winning streak snapped in controversial fashion, losing via fourth-round technical knockout to Imavov over the weekend when referee Jason Herzog waved off the action in a decision that was universally criticized from the moment it occurred.

“It feels like the opportunity to do great things was stolen from me in the moment,” Cannonier said Monday afternoon during an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani. “It doesn’t feel like I lost the fight, you know what I mean? It feels like it was taken from me, the opportunity to persevere, which is one thing I’ve done in a lot of my fights.”

Cannonier was wobbled by a well-timed Imavov right hand and was swarmed by his opponent but did not hit the canvas and never stopped defending himself. The fans in attendance at Kentucky’s KFC Yum! Center immediately began booing when Herzog waved off the action, and Cannonier immediately protested.

“When he hit me with the shot, it was a good shot and definitely took my equilibrium away, but I was definitely in recovering mode,” Cannonier explained. “I had my wits about me, I was able to create some distance and then turn and face my opponent. Of course he did everything he was supposed to do; he kept the pressure on and kept trying to mount a good offence to try to finish the fight, but I was still there, my hands were up, I was covering up most of those shots, especially in the final sequence.

“I even threw a counterstrike, a nice clean counterstrike that I think landed, and then I put my hands right back up to defend for whatever was coming next and that’s when the ref stepped in. Definitely the absolute worst time for him to step in, right after I throw a shot. I’m competently defending myself, my eyes are clear, I’m looking at my opponent.”

The 40-year-old reiterated that he, like most fighters, simply wanted the chance to compete and if he was going to lose he wished to “go out like a warrior, go out on my shield.”

Two of three judges had Cannonier up two rounds to one prior to the start of that fourth round. Had the bout been allowed to continue, and they made it to a fifth round, then the result could've potentially been determined by which fighter won the final round.

“I think the ref was more elevated by the whole thing than I was,” Cannonier continued. “I was sort of in autopilot like, ‘OK, this is a bad situation to be in, but I’ve been here before, so this is where I recover and then try to mount the offence back to keep the pressure off of me,’ so it’s frustrating as hell to go back and watch it every time. I’ve watched it like seven or eight times and it’s frustrating as hell every time. I felt I was definitely winning that fight up until that point.”

Imavov said “absolutely not” at his post-fight media availability when asked if he thought it was an early stoppage.

“It’s the job of the referee to decide if the fighter is able to keep going or not,” the 29-year-old from France said through a French translator. “He took already a lot of damage, and he would’ve taken even more if the fight continued, so I think it was the right decision.”

Herzog is regarded one of the most reliable referees in mixed martial arts but few are defending the stoppage. Ironically, he was the referee roughly two months ago at UFC 300 when Yan Xiaonan was choked unconscious by Zhang Weili at the end of the first round of their strawweight title fight and ate dozens of unanswered strikes at one point the following round, yet Herzog allowed that fight to continue and it ended up going the distance.

Cannonier’s only losses at middleweight prior to the Imavov stoppage were decisions to former champions Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker. 

He also mentioned the impact the result had on his bank account, pointing out he felt his chance at earning a win bonus and even a potential Fight of the Night or performance bonus was denied unfairly.

“That moment could’ve made it a Fight of the Night had it kept going,” Cannonier said before also pointing out Imavov was robbed of “a clean finish, a clean win" but "instead we have this controversy we have to deal with.”

Cannonier said the UFC brass is in agreement it was a bad stoppage and that his manager has indicated UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard is interested in potentially putting together a rematch with Imavov.

“I want to petition for a rematch,” Cannonier added. “The UFC’s going to Paris in September. I would love to go into Nassourdine’s backyard and make that right. He’ll have the home-field advantage.”