Vicente Luque wants to get to work now at middleweight.
The longtime welterweight is looking to stay busy and make an intentional climb to the top now that he’s got his UFC middleweight debut out of the way. Earlier this month, Luque (24-12-1 MMA, 17-8 UFC) submitted former interim title challenger Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 327 in Miami, and he’d like to now face a former undisputed title challenger of the division.
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“Someone who I’d like specifically – I think it would be great for me, but also the fans – would be Jared Cannonier,” Luque told Hablemos MMA in Spanish. “He’s a veteran, just like me, but already established in the division and in the rankings. I believe he doesn’t have a fight at the moment. For me, it’s a very interesting match. It’s a fight between two veterans with great styles. That’s a fight I would love. He’s in the rankings.”
Cannonier fought for the title and lost to then-champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 276 in 2022. Since, he’s been lingering in the top 10, notching solid wins over Sean Strickland, Marvin Vettori and Gregory Rodrigues. He was last seen in August, losing a unanimous decision to Michael Page at UFC 319. Cannonier currently has no return to the cage booked.
Luque, who cracked the top five of the welterweight rankings, but never got to challenge for the belt, maintains the same goal he had at 170 pounds for this run at middleweight: become UFC champion. Luque wasn’t feeling great toward the end of his welterweight run, and feels rejuvenated now fighting at 185 pounds.
“I don’t know how you do this without the desire to become champion,” Luque said. “This is a dangerous sport. You can’t just come in here and look to get by because you can get hurt badly. I think if I want to do it well, I have to be in it to be the best. The change in division and all that, people might look at it and think I might not have the same commitment, but no. This change was to improve, to get better. For me, that’s the plan: Reach the top.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Vicente Luque calls out ex-UFC middleweight title challenger
