From an outsider’s perspective, leg kicks might have seemed like a major storyline of Jack Hermansson’s loss at UFC on ESPN+ 18. The Norwegian, however, doesn’t think so.
A favorite in the eyes of the bookmakers and the crowd in attendance in Copenhagen, Hermansson (20-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC) was finished via strikes by Jared Cannonier (13-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC) in 27 seconds into the second round of their headliner at Royal Arena.
After an initial rush of energy from Hermansson to start the bout, Cannonier shifted the momentum with a series of leg kicks. A short uppercut marked the beginning of the end for Hermansson, as Cannonier pounced on and finished his foe.
“I was going for the takedown pretty early in the fight, like ‘OK, this is where I want to fight.’ I locked myself a little bit in that mode,” Hermansson said during the ESPN+ post-show. “That resulted in that I didn’t have the correct setups for my takedowns. They were a little bit naked, and it was easy for Jared to time that uppercut and find the finish.”
Despite Hermansson’s legs absorbing 65 percent of Cannonier’s significant strikes, “The Joker” believes the finish was the result of mental mistakes, not physical ones. Cannonier landed 13 leg kicks on Hermansson in just over 5 minutes of cage time.
“They probably affected me, but not the outcome,” Hermansson said. “I don’t think that was the setup for the outcome. It was more what I did in there incorrectly.”
Cannonier’s abilities came as no surprise to Hermansson, who stressed the difficulty he found remaining on top of Cannonier. A major portion of Hermansson’s game is his ability to remain in control on the ground, so he credits Cannonier’s defense.
“(It was) not surprising,” Hermansson said. “I knew he was going to be hard to take down and hard to keep there. It was really tricky to be on top of him. I couldn’t manage to keep him down there, so good work from Jared.”
Disappointed with his performance, Hermansson hopes he can make up for it soon. The 31-year-old middleweight wants to compete one more time before the calendar year comes to an end.
“I want to get one more this year at least,” Hermansson said. “That’s my goal.”
