Sean Strickland isn’t blind to the UFC’s intentions with his matchup against Alex Pereira.
Strickland is set to meet the former two-division GLORY kickboxing champion on Saturday at UFC 276. The controversial American is a perfect 5-0 since moving up to 185 pounds and is currently MMA Fighting’s No. 8 is the highest-ranked middleweight fighter in the world. Pereira, on the other hand, is the owner of just five total wins throughout his entire MMA career, and enters the pay-per-view bout sitting just 2-0 in the UFC without a single victory over a ranked foe.
Despite his inexperience, UFC President Dana White made clear that Pereira may be the next to fight for the title against Jared Cannonier, winner of Israel Adesanya-Vs. Jared Cannonier. This is purely because Pereira and Adesanya have a history dating back to kickboxing. And it’s safe to say Strickland understands exactly why the UFC targeted him as the man to test Pereira at UFC 276.
“If we learned anything about UFC rankings, [they] mean nothing,” Strickland said Wednesday at UFC 276 media day. “At the end of the day, it means nothing. It’s Izzy who knocked him out, so here’s how you can make him leave. He will eventually face a wrestler that can take him down, beat him and they’ll both never have the Izzy shot. Or they can be like, “Hey Sean, we should have him fight Sean.” Sean doesn’t like to wrestle. Maybe if [Pereira] beats him, then we could float him to the top.’
“So this is literally purely just a ploy by the UFC, putting him against somebody who likes to strike, to potentially get him an Izzy shot. UFC, you are my hero. I would ****** wrestle .”
.
The rivalry between Pereira & Adesanya is on UFC’s radar ever since Pereira made his debut in November 2021. with an impressive knockout of Andreas Michailidis.
Pereira and Adesanya fought twice before in kickboxing. The Brazilian defeated the UFC champ in their April 2016, first encounter. Pereira won a memorable knockout of Adesanya one year later in their March 2017 match.
And even though Strickland is aware that his greatest advantages at UFC 276 are on the mat, the possibility of standing alongside the ex-GLORY double champ makes him happy.
“Here is the deal, man. Let me tell you, the ****** thing is simple. Let me tell you guys something. There’s not one GLORY f****** kickboxer in any f****** weight class that I couldn’t stand and bang with,” Stickland said. “So don’t f****** tell me just because you’re some big f****** Brazilian and you knocked out Izzy 20 years ago that f****** I can’t stand with you.
“Come on, motherf******. Get out of here.”
That being said, Strickland admitted he isn’t afraid to call an audible if things begin to trend southward quickly against Pereira at UFC 276 once the time comes.
” We’ll find out,” Strickland stated. I don’t have a plan. I mean, obviously if I go in there and he starts f****** hurting me, yeah, I’m going to take the coward’s way out and try to wrestle.
“But I hope that I can bang and stand with this huge scary f ****** Brazilian .”
This website uses cookies.