Alex Pereira backed Sean Strickland to potentially defeat Israel Adesanya in an anticipated matchup for the middleweight title.
Reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has proven to be one of the most dominant champions in the history of the promotion. Since taking the throne in Oct. 2019, he dispatched multiple rising contenders to rack up five successful title defenses. He went undefeated at 185 pounds until he faced longtime rival Alex Pereira at UFC 281.
Adesanya scored a spectacular knockout of Pereira to reclaim the title in his last outing at UFC 287 three months ago. Following the bout, he appeared set for a collision with Dricus Du Plessis. However, Adesanya later reported the matchup might not happen and set his sights on Sean Strickland.
Alex Pereira favors Sean Strickland’s chances in a fight with Israel Adesanya
During the pre-fight press conference for UFC 291, Alex Pereira backed Sean Strickland to potentially come out on top of a contest with Israel Adesanya.
“Fighting Israel Adesanya is always a hard fight but just like Alex said and showed that he can beat him,” said Pereira. “Sean Strickland has a chance, different game plans, it’s hard. But, if anyone has a chance against Adesanya, that’ll be Sean Strickland.”
According to Pereira, a fight with Du Plessis doesn’t make sense for Adesanya, and believes Strickland presents a tougher challenge.
“Honestly, man, I don’t know if it’s maybe too much for Du Plessis because Adesanya’s way superior. Looking at this fight overall, it’s a fight that does not even make too much sense to me.”
“100 percent Strickland has a better chance of beating Adesanya than Du Plessis.”
Pereira shares experience training with Strickland
‘Poatan’ opened up on his experience training with Strickland at former UFC champion Glover Teixeira’s gym.
“He’s actually a very nice guy. He swears a lot but nice guy, maybe he does that for the cameras. He came to Glover’s gym… nice guy, humble guy, and also the atmosphere there man. It’s a family gym, have kids, all types of people there so the guy got to adapt to the vibe, not the vibe adapt to the guy. But nobody had to get his attention, tell him, he just blend in very good.”
Alex Pereira is set to make his light heavyweight debut against former champion Jan Blachowicz in the co-main event of UFC 291 on Saturday, Jul. 29 in Salt Lake City, Utah. As for Adesanya, he’s rumored to face Strickland, and an official announcement is expected to follow soon.
