Alex Pereira has explained the true reason that he went to Australia to corner Sean Strickland after being criticized by some legends of the sport.
With his UFC 313 headliner against Magomed Ankalaev set for March 8, many felt it wasn’t wise to travel almost 20,000 miles to and from Australia midway through training camp. He was ostensibly in the corner for Sean Strickland’s loss to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 312.
However, he insists there were other reasons he had to travel to Australia, and notes that he is used to the extensive movement at this stage. Daniel Cormier was one of his most outspoken critics leading into the trip, but he had some choice words for his fellow two-weight world champion in his own right.
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Alex Pereira hits back at Daniel Cormier and critics of UFC 312 trip
Alex Pereira’s appearance in Australia to corner Sean Strickland was a controversial one with many experts. It was believed to be an ill-advised move to go to and from Australia during camp, given the severe jet lag and other issues that can arise.
Daniel Cormier was one of the most outspoken critics of the idea, but Michael Bisping was another who raised concerns. However, he insists that he is well-versed on travelling properly and with his whole team around was able to stay training at the top level.
“Sean and I have a good friendship now and a lot of people are thinking that I just went out there to be in his corner,” he told Bloody Elbow in an exclusive chat as part of his role as Stake ambassador. “But I had these prior commitments in Australia and it just ended up that it worked out for me to be over there.
“I heard people saying ‘oh he doesn’t even speak English, what difference does it make him being there?’ But we have the same kind of energy, we’re on the same vibe, both fighting in the same company so there’s a lot of good rapport between us.
“I can say to Daniel Cormier and a bunch of the other specialists saying that I shouldn’t have gone out there that I’ve been in this situation before. It’s actually been worse before when I was in Australia and had signed up to fight but didn’t even know I was going to do that.
“This time it was all very planned out, I knew what I was going to do. I took basically my whole team down there, I had eight people in Australia with me and we knew exactly what to do so we had it all very well planned out.
“A lot of people are talking about the travelling and all of the trips, maybe it’s not the ideal situation. But I feel like I’m very experienced with that and I’ve done this a million times to be honest.”
Daniel Cormier admitted concerns for Alex Pereira ahead of UFC 313 main event
During an episode of his show Good Guy/Bad Guy with Chael Sonnen last month, the legendary former light-heavyweight and heavyweight champion Cormier explained what concerns him the most about Pereira’s upcoming fight.
“Ankalaev’s already [in Las Vegas], he’s locked in, I ran into him at the UFC PI last week,” Cormier said. “He’s honestly so locked in, ready to win this fight against Alex Pereira, who was in Australia last week, shaking the hand of Drake as he went on stage for his concert…
“What is Pereira still doing in Australia? He fights in two weeks! I got back from Australia and all last week, I’m up at three o’clock in the morning. I don’t care that Pereira’s got weeks to get ready, he’s going to be ready and going to be prepared.
“But even those two to three extra days when he’s adjusting his clock to get back on schedule in Connecticut… He’s going to have to deal with all that travel and all that difference in time. And where’s Glover [Teixeira]? Is Glover just in Australia with him? Is it just him and Plinio [Cruz]?
“Glover’s the guy, honestly, that should be doing the most work with Alex right now because of [Ankalaev’s] wrestling… Pereira better get home, he needs to get home and lock in, because he has the hardest fight of his title reign.”
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