Former AFC fighter drops weight and then drops ranked opponent to become a UFC contender

Since making the switch from light heavyweight to middleweight, UFC fighter Jared Cannonier — who began his career in Anchorage — is about 20 pounds lighter and at least $50,000 richer.

Cannonier, 34, won his middleweight debut Saturday night at UFC 230 in New York City, where the former Federal Aviation Administration worker had a bright lights-big city moment that could change his life.

The win at Madison Square Garden made Cannonier an immediate contender in the middleweight division — he's ranked ninth in this week's MMA world rankings. The victory is the biggest yet by an Alaska Fighting Championship regular, AFC owner Sarah Lorimer said.

Fighting on two weeks' notice, Cannonier used his punching prowess to stun contender David Branch with a second-round TKO.

He earned a $50,000 bonus as one of the night's top performers, a prize he learned about midway through his post-fight press conference when a reporter mentioned it.

"Are you serious?" Cannonier said just as he was about to take a drink of water.

"Boom!" he said playfully. "Yes! Oh, yes! Whew!"

Cannonier, a pre-fight underdog, made an impression in and out of the octagon Saturday. After weathering a couple of takedowns by Branch during the first round, he landed a big right hand early in the second round and then pummeled away once he had Branch on the ground. The fight was stopped 23 seconds into the round.

"It feels good, especially to do it here on one of the biggest stages in the world," Cannonier told reporters after the fight. "A lot of people have come here to earn a lot of notoriety and fortune and I'm just happy to have done the same."

During his press conference after the fight, Cannonier was free-wheeling and funny, drawing laughter a couple of times. He talked about how his socks give him energy, how he's in the market for a million-dollar sponsorship and how his wife helped transform him from a heavyweight to a middleweight.

Lorimer said Cannonier topped 250 pounds when he began fighting as an AFC heavyweight in 2011. He was 7-0 in AFC pro fights before getting his first shot at the UFC in 2015. He lost his debut and was 1-1 as a heavyweight before dropping to the light heavyweight division (205 pounds). After going 1-1 in that division, he decided this summer to drop another 20 pounds and become a middleweight (185 pounds).

That's when the influence of his wife, Cat, became critical. She helped him develop a taste for salads, he said.

"She said if you're gonna go down to 185, you're gonna have to eat this and eat that," Cannonier said at his press conference. "She cooks and I eat it. And she wasn't cooking a lot of fried chicken and T-bone steaks."

Nicknamed Killa Gorilla, Cannonier opened eyes at last week's weigh-ins, where he was two pounds below the limit and looked absolutely ripped — something he referenced during his press conference as he spoke about his dream of a million-dollar contract or a million-dollar sponsorship.

"Everybody's getting Popeyes and Carl's Jr, which really isn't conducive to fighting," he said. "But if there are high-profile sponsors who want ripped abs on their billboard, hit me up."

Cannonier lived in Alaska from 2009 to 2017, when he moved to Arizona to join the MMA Lab, the same gym where former AFC fighters Lauren Murphy and Joe Murphy train.

He came to Alaska with the military and stayed to work for the FAA as an airway transportation systems specialist. He and Cat have three children — Ava, Ayris and Ayin.

Cannonier, who quit his FAA job in order to train full time, said he still feels connected to Alaska — "My career started up there," he said. Lorimer said he remains part of the AFC extended family.

"We consider him an Alaskan," she said. "He lived here, trained here and raised his family here. He just made a decision to further his career with superior training."