Sean Strickland is bringing some additional firepower with him to Sydney, Australia this weekend in an effort to reclaim middleweight gold.
In the main event of UFC 312, Strickland will return to Australia to try and recapture the middleweight title from Dricus Du Plessis who defeated him back at UFC 297.
Both men will need to make adjustments for this fight because of how close their first encounter was but if there’s one thing will remain the same, it’s the inclusion of one of the biggest stars in the sport in the corner of the American.
Alex Pereira made the walk with Strickland, his former opponent, last January and he will do it once again on February 8 despite the fact that his next light heavyweight title defense takes place next month at UFC 313.
‘Poatan’ is clearly there to support his training partner but there could also be an ulterior motivation behind his allegiance with the challenger.
Sean Strickland says that Alex Pereira “hates” Dricus Du Plessis for some reason
In a fight week interview with the UFC, Sean Strickland revealed that Alex Pereira isn’t only motivated by lending his friend a hand this Saturday night.
The light-heavyweight champion is an intimidating presence to have in your corner and that led to some brief but captivating moments where he and Du Plessis caught each other’s attention in the aftermath of UFC 297.
Both titleholders have spoken about the potential of moving up or down in order to secure a second belt but Pereira’s pursuit of the South African supposedly goes deeper than his quest for more gold.
Strickland said that ‘Poatan’ has taken a personal disliking to ‘Stillknocks’ for a reason that he isn’t aware of and things don’t tend to work out too well for you when you got on the champion’s bad side.
“I think Alex is an angry m———–. Like Alex is angry and for some reason dude he hates Dricus. Like I don’t know what you did to him but he f—— hates you dude so it’s like the way he looks at Dricus sometimes I’m like, ‘Dude, I’m fighting him dawg, like it’s me dude’.
“But yeah no, Alex just has that hate in his heart and he’s a good dude so he’s out there, I was like, ‘Let’s come on, let’s get it in’.”
Dricus Du Plessis and Alex Pereira could meet further down the line
Perhaps Alex Pereira will get the opportunity to share the Octagon with Dricus Du Plessis at some point in their careers. Even if ‘Stillknocks’ is able to keep hold of the middleweight title this weekend, he certainly isn’t short on challengers at 185-pounds right now.
Pereira, on the other hand, could be looking to put together a super fight following his upcoming bout with Magomed Ankalaev next month but his intentions seem to lie at heavyweight over anything else.
It seems unlikely that it will happen anytime soon but you can be sure that if ‘Poatan’ really starts to push for it, whether it’s him going back down to 185-pounds or defending his title against Du Plessis, the UFC will take notice.