Alex Pereira believes Sean Strickland can upset champion Israel Adesanya ahead of a proposed clash at UFC 293.
Speaking to the media at the UFC 291 presser, the former middleweight champion shared his thoughts on his two former opponents facing off. Pereira knocked out Strickland, then traded knockouts with Adesanya to briefly become the middleweight champion.
“Fighting Israel Adesanya is always a hard fight, but he showed that he can be beaten. Sean Strickland, he has a chance. Different game plans are hard. But if anyone has a chance against Adesanya, that’ll be Sean Strickland. But it’s still a hard fight.”
Though many are not giving Strickland much of a shot, Pereira doesn’t perceive the fight as being impossible. Currently, Pereira is training with Strickland ahead of his light heavyweight debut against Jan Blachowicz in the co-main event.
Sean Strickland holding out for better pay ahead of UFC 293
Strickland may be at the front of the line for Adesanya, but the fight is far from done. The UFC has been pushing to get Dricus Du Plessis ready for Adesanya. So far, they’ve succeeded after Du Plessis destroyed Robert Whittaker at UFC 290.
At the same time, Strickland suggested that his pay for the potential title fight is a problem. In a way that only Strickland could say, Strickland aired his grievances with Helen Yee on the issue.
“It just comes down to just f******g pay me. Let me ask you guys, do we really want to watch Dricus and Izzy fight? No. We don’t want to watch Dricus and Izzy fight. You want to watch me fight. Am I going to win? I don’t know, but I’m going to go in there and punch that motherf*****g Chinese right in the face.”
