Darren Till injured, out of Jared Cannonier fight at UFC 248

UFC president Dana White said that Darren Till is injured and the promotion is looking for a new opponent against Jared Cannonier at UFC 248.

Till this week was revealed as the replacement opponent for Robert Whittaker, who pulled out of UFC 248 due to personal issues. However, the UFC is once again looking for a new opponent for Cannonier because Till is also injured. According to White, Till injured his ankle and is out of UFC 248.

Here’s what White told the media following UFC 248 (h/t Damon Martin of MMAFighting.com).

Dana White says Darren Till has an injured ankle so the UFC is still looking for a replacement for Jared Cannonier at #UFC248 #UFC246

— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) January 19, 2020

“Dana White says Darren Till has an injured ankle so the UFC is still looking for a replacement for Jared Cannonier at #UFC248”

UFC 248 was looking like a stacked card for the middleweight division as the promotion officially announced this week that UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya will take on Yoel Romero for the title in the main event. With Till vs. Cannonier also on the card, the 185lbs division was well covered.

But with Till now hurt, the UFC is once again on the lookout for an opponent for Cannonier. Looking at the UFC rankings, there is no one else available in the top-five for Cannonier to fight with No. 1 contender Paulo Costa hurt. Jack Hermansson is available, but Cannonier just beat him so that fight doesn’t make any sense right now. The next-highest ranked opponent who Cannonier hasn’t fought yet would be Kelvin Gastelum, who just lost a split decision to Till at UFC 244.

Looking down the ladder, there are fighters such as Edmen Shahbazyan, Derek Brunson and Omari Akhmedov who are looking for opponents. But none of them are ranked as highly as Cannonier is, so who knows if he would be willing to put his ranking on the list just to stay on the card.

Who would you like to see Jared Cannonier fight at UFC 248 now that Daren Till is injured?