Israel Adesanya vs. Jared Cannonier middleweight title fight on tap for UFC 276 in July

The UFC’s annual International Fight Week event has its headliner in the form of a middleweight title fight between Israel Adesanya and Jared Cannonier.

Adesanya (22-1 MMA, 11-1 UFC), the reigning UFC titleholder, will go for his fifth consecutive defense when he puts his belt up for grabs against Cannonier (15-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC) in the UFC 276 main event on July 2.

UFC officials announced the fight during Saturday’s UFC 274 broadcast.

UFC 276 takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims likely on ESPN and ESPN+.

Adesanya, No. 2 pound-for-pound and No. 1 at middleweight in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings, has put together consecutive title defenses over Robert Whittaker and Marvin Vettori after suffering his first and only career loss to Jan Blachowicz in February 2021. He suffered that defeat in the light heavyweight division in a failed bid to become a two-division champion, but now he’s staying in his natural weight class, where he’s never been beaten.

No. 3-ranked Cannonier will attempt to knock “The Last Stylebender” off his throne. Cannonier has hovered around a title shot for the past several years, but he solidified the opportunity with a brutal knockout of Derek Brunson at UFC 271 in February.

With the addition, the UFC 276 lineup now includes:

• Israel Adesanya vs. Jared Cannonier – for middleweight title

• Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway – for featherweight title

• Lauren Murphy vs. Miesha Tate

• Bryan Barberena vs. Robbie Lawler

• Dricus Du Plessis vs. Brad Tavares

• Jessica-Rose Clark vs. Julija Stoliarenko

• Uriah Hall vs. Andre Muniz

• Maycee Barber vs. Jessica Eye