- Sean Strickland reacted to his upset KO loss to Alex Pereira at UFC 276
- “Tarzan” admitted that he thought it would be an easy fight but he got caught
Sean Strickland saw his impressive winning streak come to an end in a devastating way after the unranked Alex Pereira stunned him in the very first round of their middleweight bout at UFC 276.
Pereira landed a swift and deadly left hook that floored Strickland right away, before finishing the job at 2:32 of Round 1.
Contrary to what many expected, the flamboyant “Tarzan” accepted his defeat like a real gentleman.
fuck sean strickland pic.twitter.com/MCZudYgQLh
— Dillon Danis (@dillondanis) July 3, 2022
No excuses
Strickland took to social media to share his thoughts on the upset knockout loss. Surprisingly, a humble “Tarzan” genuinely admitted that he “got caught” and even though he was thinking that it would be an easy fight, Pereira beat him fair and square.
“Well that sucked,” Strickland said in the video. “You never want to be someone’s highlight but that’s the game we play. You know I tried to stand and bang with one of the best kickboxers. The shitty part about it was during the round I kept thinking to myself that ‘Man this is going to be an easy fight. I could see everything this guy is throwing. I am getting the better of the exchanges. I am going to beat this guy up for three rounds.’ And then halfway through I got caught. So, hats off to Alex (Pereira). He’s a f*cking killer. Thanks to all my coaches, sorry I didn’t get the win. Fans, thank you for supporting me. On to the next one. Time to climb the ladder again.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CfiQZjEvJkk/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=7bf4ae58-a90f-4ee2-9880-36b25e1d3eb5
Title shot would be delayed
Heading into his UFC 276 bout with Pereira, Strickland was one of the top-five guys who were favorites to become the next title challenger. After the KO loss, it’s very likely that Strickland’s case for title contention would have to be paused for a while.
Pereira, on the other hand, would surely be breaking into the top 15 fighters in the middleweight division.
Despite the humiliating defeat, Strickland is still one of the best 185-pounders in the promotion. We’ll have to wait and see what’s next for him as there’s an array of possible match-ups for him in the division.
