Jared Cannonier survives early scare, demolishes Gregory Rodrigues in fourth round to win UFC Vegas 102 main event

Jared Cannonier survived an early scare, but came storming back to finish Gregory Rodrigues in impressive fashion in the UFC Vegas 102 main event.

The fight didn’t start great for Cannonier after he got planted on the canvas twice in the opening round, but that tremendous output seemingly zapped Rodrigues for the rest of the fight. In return, Cannonier just kept coming after him until he scored a knockdown of his own with a vicious elbow strike in the third round and then dished out even more of the same in the fourth.

Finally, with Rodrigues hurt and backed up against the cage, Cannonier unleashed a huge barrage of punches to the head and body that finally ended the fight. The stoppage came at 21 seconds into the fourth round with Cannonier celebrating his latest main event win.

“I guess I was hurt enough to get dropped on my ass a couple of times,” Cannonier said about the unpleasant start to the fight before he eventually came back. “He was slinging big ass shots. I was able to weather the storm and keep my composure in those tough spot.

“I’d rather die on my feet than die on my back. Yes, experience plays a fact, but I want to lean on my team. My improvements definitely showed in this fight.”

There was no feeling out process for Rodrigues, who came out firing like a cannon with hard, heavy punches and leg kicks that were just blasting away at Cannonier. Just before the two minute mark in the opening round, Rodrigues connected with a huge right hook that put Cannonier down on the canvas, although he was able to recover quickly and get back to his feet.

Rodrigues continuously used his size advantage as he just kept finding a home for his big, loopy punches before a slick left tagged Cannonier and put him down briefly again. While he was absorbing a lot of punishment, Cannonier kept finding a way to survive with hopes that Rodrigues would eventually slow down.

The strategy started paying off as early as the second round with Cannonier suddenly moving forward as the aggressor and Rodrigues’ output was severely diminished. Cannonier was really beginning to tee off but Rodrigues still represented enough of a threat that the one-time middleweight title contender couldn’t throw caution to the wind.

The momentum shifted again when Rodrigues finally got a second burst of energy and he started coming after Cannonier again. That backfired after Cannonier cracked him with a vicious elbow strike from inside the clinch that dropped the Brazilian to the canvas.

Cannonier followed up with some powerful ground and pound and as the third round came to a close, Rodrigues was wobbled badly as he went back to his corner.

When the fight restarted, Cannonier recognized that the one-minute break wasn’t nearly enough for Rodrigues to recover because he came out immediately looking for the finish. Cannonier overwhelmed his opponent with a barrage of punches that backed Rodrigues up against the cage with nowhere to go.

From there, Cannonier was just looking for the kill shot, which came after he delivered a punishing blow to the body and then went right back up top to the head as Rodrigues crumbled to the canvas. That was enough for the referee to swoop in and save Rodrigues from further harm as Cannonier earned the fourth-round stoppage, which got him back on track after a pair of consecutive losses to fellow middleweight contenders Nassourdine Imavov and Caio Borralho.

At 40, Cannonier is certainly in the latter stage of his career, but he’s still got a whole lot of fight left in him, and he’ll be a dangerous out for any 185-pounder willing to trade bombs with him in the octagon as Rodrigues found out Saturday night.