UFC middleweight, Jared “The Killa Gorilla” Cannonier, who’s been sidelined for about four months due to tearing his pectoral muscle back in February, spoke with The Score MMA’s, James Lynch, to give an update on how recovery from surgery has been thus far.
Cannonier was very optimistic when talking about his recovery, telling Lynch that fans can expect a better version of him than ever before when he returns to the UFC octagon.
“When I get back, I’m gonna be stronger, better than ever, and right back to business,” said Cannonier. “I’m back in the gym. I’ve been back in the gym for a couple of weeks now. Of course (it’s) mitigated training, we’re not going all out or anything like that. I’ve been doing some really good work with my striking coaches, I’m back hitting pads, I’ve (trained jiu jitsu) the last couple of weeks. Still being smart, but I was able to get in there and get some good rounds with some really good guys.” So now the door is opening up for me again as far as getting back to training and just going all-in.”
Cannonier, the #3 ranked middleweight, can’t wait to get back to full contact training and he is targeting a September-October return.
“Only about a month and I’ll be 100%, 110%,” Cannonier told Lynch. “Mentally, I was shooting for (an) August return, but I know that’s not gonna happen,” he added. “I want to give myself as much time as I can, but I also wanna get back in there too. So, (after) talking with my therapist and figuring things out, we decided September would be a good time to get back in there, or October would be optimal as far as my therapist is concerned. He would like October more for some more time to let the whole (muscle heal), but I’m shooting for October at the latest.”
As for what’s next for Cannonier, he would like a title shot against the champ, Israel Adesanya, but says he is willing to fight whoever he needs to fight to get to where he needs to be.
“I’m ranked number three, essentially I’m next in line because there’s nobody else in front of me who deserves a shot more than me,” he said.
Cannonier tore his pectoral muscle during training. According to him, the incident occurred when he was simply passing the guard of one of his training partners.
“He had a wizzer on my left arm, the one that got torn. So, I was passing to his left, and once I got past his knee I went to get strong again and collect him up in side control, and I guess me being so strong and creating such force, the muscle just tore like a sheet of paper,” said Cannonier.
