Jared Cannonier Breaks Down Adesanya vs Du Plessis, Whittaker vs Chimaev, & Strickland vs Costa

The UFC's middleweight division is heating up with three bouts between contenders in the top 10 already locked in and one potential title fight on the horizon.
Whilst the champion Dricus Du Plessis appears to be set to defend the title against Israel Adesanya in the near future, a date is yet to be confirmed though many have one eye on UFC 305 in Perth which goes down in August.
In the meantime, before the title gets defended, six of the very best at 185-pounds will go at it in three five-round fights that are set to take place throughout June.
First up, former champion Sean Strickland will take on Brazilian powerhouse Paulo Costa in a five-round co-main event at UFC 302.
The following week on June 8, former title challenger Jared Cannonier returns for his first fight in a year when he takes on Nassourdine Imavov in a Fight Night main event set for Louisville, Kentucky.
Last but not least, the UFC heads to Saudi Arabia for a blockbuster showdown in the desert between the always intriguing Khamzat Chimaev and one of the best to ever do it at this weight in Robert Whittaker.
In a recent interview with James Lynch for MiddleEasy, Cannonier gave his analysis of the three fights at the top of the division that don't include him.
Starting things off, he said that he expects a former foe of his to return to the win column as Strickland looks to bounce back from losing the middleweight belt.
"That's a tough one man because both of those guys are good. I would probably give the edge to Strickland because of his style. It's not as traditional as most people are used to, on top of that, he fights with pressure, he's so used to fighting that way against so many different looks that he's seen in his gym that he can implement that against anybody. He even tried to implement it against me and had some success, I will acknowledge that. But I would give the edge to Strickland unless Paulo can catch him and keep catching him and get into a good rhythm and keep working on him but Paulo, but sometimes I feel like he will tone down the tempo so he doesn't get too tired too fast because when he goes, he's pretty explosive so he goes pretty hard."
Cannonier is once again backing the fighter that he has been in the Octagon with for the upcoming main event in Saudi Arabia on June 22.
"This is a very interesting match-up, I believe that Whittaker gets it at the long distance for sure unless Chimaev gets so much of the momentum that Whittaker can't recover which I find that hard to make that happen against a guy like Whittaker who's been in there with all of us so I want to give the edge to Whittaker."
Finally, "The Killa Gorilla" found it difficult to pick a winner in what many expect to be the first defense of Du Plessis' middleweight crown.
He spoke a lot about Strickland's upset win over Adesanya at UFC 293 last year and how that changes a lot of his opinions on this fight.
"Between them, if DDP sits back and that puts pressure on Israel then it's gonna be Izzy's fight. If DDP puts pressure on him, it can be a lot like what we saw with Sean Strickland and what he did. He put pressure on him and made Israel uncomfortable, hurt him in that first round. I think DDP definitely hits harder than Sean Strickland, he probably hit harder than Israel too but he has more weapons at his disposal than Sea Strickland had in that fight against Israel. He's got some good kicks so that fight can go either way man. When Sean fought Israel, we was all like Israel's going to do this, Israel is going to do that and then Sean went in there and did what Sean does so we can see either happen if or when they fight."