No. 7 ranked middleweight contender Sean Strickland is all too familiar with the power that new UFC champion Alex Pereira possesses.
On Saturday night, Pereira put that power on display and shocked the world when he finished former middleweight king Israel Adesanya via knockout in the fifth round of their highly entertaining main event clash. Taking a moment away from training, Sean Strickland spoke with ‘The Schmo‘ on YouTube and gave his reaction to the rise of the new middleweight champion Alex Pereira.
“He’s a f*cking bad** big motherf*cking Brazilian and he touches you and you go to sleep. It’s the weirdest thing. He just f*cking touches you and you f*cking fall asleep, but I was not expecting that.
“I was surprised. I thought Izzy was in the f*cking, you know, be a twinkle toes and f*cking dance around and outpoint him, but f*cking hats off to you Alex, you f*cking big a** f*cking scary Brazilian and you f*cking go out and f*cking do it.”
Sean Strickland Shares His Thoughts on the Stoppage at UFC 281
Some fans and fighters believe that referee Marc Goddard’s stoppage of the bout was premature as Israel Adesanya was still moving and attempting to avoid the barrage of strikes delivered by Alex Pereira. Asked if he thought the stoppage came too early, Strickland said:
“I mean technically when I got stopped I was still coherent. I wasn’t dead. I was awake. I was aware, but no, it was a good stoppage. That f*cking guy has dynamite. If it wasn’t that, he would have f*cking countered. I’m in, the f*cking guy bro, dynamite in his hands. I don’t know what to tell you guys. I should have wrestled. Izzy, you should have f*cking wrestled. What happened man? Why didn’t you f*cking wrestle? Are you getting the same speech I got by everybody? ‘Hey Sean, why didn’t you wrestle?’ Because he’s a big f*cking Brazilian. I wanted to f*cking fight him. Tha’s why.”
With Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya already rumored to run back their UFC 281 contest, Sean Strickland voiced his dislike for the immediate rematch, believing the next man in line should get his opportunity.
“It shouldn’t have an immediate rematch. You should give the next guy in line a shot, but f*cking UFC does what UFC does.”
