TUF 24 Finale's Jared Cannonier didn't want slugfest with Cutelaba, but won one, anyway

LAS VEGAS – It wasn’t UFC light heavyweight Jared Cannonier’s intention to get into a slugfest with Ion Cutelaba at The Ultimate Fighter 24 Finale.

But once one broke out, he found a nice little advantage – a little more mileage on his punches.

“I ain’t scared to take no shots,” he told MMAjunkie backstage at The Pearl at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, which hosted the FS1-televised event this past Saturday. “But they will be scared once I start hitting them. Once they start missing, and I start hitting them, they’re gonna go backward. I can promise you that.”

Cannonier (9-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) was feeling so good about his advantage, he spent the last minutes of the fight walking down Cutelaba (12-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) with his hands at his sides, daring the fighter from Moldova to hit him.

“I put that Twinkie on a stick, dangled it in his face to see if he bit, and he bit a few times,” Cannonier said. “I need to work on being able to capitalize on that a little bit more effectively.”

In other words, he wasn’t able to put his bloodied opponent away despite landing several big shots. He went on to win a unanimous decision (http://mmajunkie.com/2016/12/tuf-24-finale-results-jared-cannonier-outworks-ion-cutelaba-in-move-to-light-heavyweight), picking up his second UFC win.

He joked that after a grueling three-round fight, he’d rather have a “potato” of an opponent rather than one who tested his chin like Cutelaba did in the first round.

“I’m not in this game to take shots and give shots,” Cannonier said. “I’m not with that stand and bang crap.”

Still, Cannonier said he feels so good competing at light heavyweight that he’s seriously thinking about doubling down and going to middleweight, where his punching power really would pay dividends.

“It’s not the near future,” he said. “I want to test the waters at 205. There’s a lot of 205ers out there I’d like to fight, maybe two or three more fights, and if everything goes well, maybe I’ll stick around.

“I’m 32 years old. I’m one of the older guys in the division. The lifespan isn’t long for a mixed martial artist, so who knows.”

He hasn’t been at 185 pounds since college, and there was a lot of praying to lose that last bit of weight. That would make the upcoming holiday season a dangerous one for his future goals, if he were that type of guy.

“I don’t celebrate Christmas,” he said. “Christmas is a pagan holiday. I don’t celebrate man-made holidays. I might celebrate Hannukah. I’m just going to stay warm. Every day’s a holiday when you live my life.”

Check out the above video to get Cannonier’s rundown on the fight (and his special callout to MMAjunkie’s John Morgan).

For complete coverage of The Ultimate Fighter 24 Finale, check out the UFC Events section of the site.