UFC Copenhagen: Jack Hermansson vs Jared Cannonier Prediction and Fight Analysis

UFC Copenhagen will feature an intriguing fight between two rising stars of the UFC middleweight division. Jack Hermansson with a win over Jacare Souza in his last fight has emerged to be one of the strongest contenders for the middleweight title. His grappling and submission game is a threat to anybody in that division and he is insanely efficient with his striking. Here is the Jack Hermansson vs Jared Cannonier Prediction.

On the other hand, it seems Jared Cannonier has found the right weight division for him at the middleweight. His power and his movements can derail anyone. His last victory over Anderson Silva has impressed many and now he sets his eyes on overcoming Jack Hermansson in his backyard, Denmark.

Record( wins/losses)- 20/4
Hermansson is on a four-fight win streak with impressive victories over David Branch and Jacare Souza.

Record(wins/losses)- 12/4
Cannonier has been unbeaten since his middleweight debut with wins over Anderson Silva and David Branch.

Jared Cannonier:

The first thing that comes to the table while discussing Cannonier is his power. He has been a heavyweight in his career and he has also fought in light heavyweight before coming down to middleweight. For someone who has knocked out heavyweights, his power is just off the charts among the fighters at the middleweight.

Cannonier is also lethal at striking. Not just power but his movements make it harder for his opponents to dodge the power shot. Although his win over Silva is not that impressive considering Anderson Silva has not been the fighter he used to be in his prime, but the fight against David Branch shows few interesting aspects of Cannonier’s fight game. though Branch took him down more than a couple of times, Cannonier was able to get back up on his feet. However, if he uses brute force to answer Hermansson’s takedowns then he might just exhaust himself in the process.

Cannonier does have a couple of submission victories in his career, but it’s very unlikely that he is going to out grapple Hermansson on the ground.

Jack Hermansson:

Hermansson is the best grappler in the middleweight division at the moment. He out grappler one of the greatest grapplers in UFC history, Jacare Souza in his last fight. So it’s safe to assume that he can do the same against cannonier if he takes him down. He has lethal submission under his belt and Cannonier would not want to try his luck on the ground with Hermansson.

Apart from the ground game, Hermansson has an excellent striking game too. He is quick on his feet. His fast jabs with lateral movements will create trouble for his opponents as it did for Jacare Souza. Hermansson was causing a good amount of damage to Souza with his high volume of strikes. He also has these inside leg kicks and the oblique kicks that he uses to maintain the distance and to chop down his opponents from the bottom.

So how does the fight go between these Hermansson and cannonier?

Hermansson will look for takedowns from the get-go. Yes, he will trade punches and mix it up with his kicks but grappling is his bread and butter and it works perfectly against someone like Cannonier. It’s not wise to stand in-front of Cannonier and trade punch for punch. Jacare Souza had success on the feet against Hermansson. So Cannonier can do the same and he can cause much more damage than Souza because of his power and fast movements.

Now Hermansson is not like Khabib Nurmagomedov who will keep trying to take his opponents down until he overwhelms them. Cannonier can defend some of the takedowns and we will see a fair amount of striking between Hermansson and Cannonier. Hermansson is likely to have more success in the clinch and he will throw more volume on the feet than Cannonier.

If Hermansson gets cannonier down, then Cannonier will be in trouble. The ideal strategy for Cannonier should be to take the fight to the later rounds when Hermansson is not as quick on his feet as he would be in the first two rounds. Then Cannonier can pick his shots and do some damage. In his fight with Souza, Hermasson did slow down in the third round.

So a lot would depend on the first two rounds. If Hermansson takes Cannonier down and holds him there which he is likely to do then it’s unlikely that cannonier can survive the ground and pound of Hermansson. However, if Cannonier takes the fight to the later round then he has a shot to knock Hermansson out.

Considering all that, Hermansson is likely to win the fight against Cannonier. Yes, Cannonier hits hard but so did Jacare Souza. Hermansson outnumbered Souza in striking pretty easily on short notice. So with a full camp, he is likely to get the win over Cannonier. Hermansson’s ground game is going to be too much to deal with for Cannonier and he likely gets submitted with in the first three rounds. even if the fight goes to a decision, Hermansson will win on the judges’ scorecards caus he throws an insane amount of volume on feet.

Jack Hermansson wins via submission