Jared Cannonier calls out Kelvin Gastelum for UFC 248

UFC middleweight contender Jared Cannonier is currently without an opponent for UFC 248 and he has now turned his attention to a fight against Kelvin Gastelum.

Cannonier was originally set to fight Robert Whittaker at UFC 248 but Whittaker withdrew from the fight due to personal reasons. Cannonier was then set to take on Darren Till, but Till was also removed from the fight due to what UFC president Dana White says was an ankle injury. That leaves Cannonier without an opponent for the March pay-per-view event.

But “The Killa Gorilla” still wants to compete on the card and is looking at other possible opponents now as a way to stay on in. In a new social media post, Cannonier suggested Gastelum as a possible opponent for UFC 248.

Here’s what Cannonier wrote on his Instagram.

“5 weeks out from UFC 248 and still no fight. @robwhittakermma can’t make it. @darrentill2 is still thinking about it. I’ve got people asking me left and right if they can go ahead and buy tickets and plan trips to Vegas @mickmaynard2 @danawhite @ufc if Darren won’t fight and @yoelromeromma can get a title shot on a 2 fight L streak, then give @kgastelum a contenders match on one too. This is me waiting to hear back.”

Cannonier has won all three of his fights since moving down to the middleweight division at the end of 2018. Cannonier knocked out David Branch in his 185lbs debut, then defeated Anderson Silva by injury TKO and Jack Hermansson by knockout to emerge as a legitimate top-five contender in the UFC middleweight division.

As for Gastelum, he’s coming off of two straight losses to Till and UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, but he remains highly regarded in the division and is still among the top-10 ranked fighters at 185lbs.

Would you like to see Jared Cannonier fight Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 248?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 1/31/2020.