Alex Pereira won’t take any credit for Sean Strickland’s huge upset of Israel Adesanya.
Strickland (27-5 MMA, 14-5 UFC) stunned the masses when he defeated Adesanya (24-2 MMA, 13-2 UFC) by unanimous decision in this past Saturday’s UFC 293 headliner at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney.
After getting knocked out by former champion Pereira in the first round at UFC 276 last July, Strickland spent some time training with “Poatan.” But Pereira, who also holds a knockout win over Adesanya, dismisses any notion that he’s the reason Strickland dethroned Adesanya – even though he rated his chances highly.
“I noticed in the comments (of a past video) that a lot of you guys were saying that I was backing Sean Strickland just because we’re buddies now, because I trained with him so naturally I got to support him,” Pereira said on his YouTube channel. “I couldn’t separate my personal feelings from business. But here’s what I told you guys: I spent a few days training with Sean Strickland, and I got to see how talented he is, strategies, how tough he is. I got a better understanding of this from training than from actually fighting him.
“It was totally different because anyone who trains, who fights, knows how it is. … That’s why I was so sure he was going to win. Another thing, there are so many people saying, ‘Oh, Sean Strickland trained with Pereira, and that’s why he won.’ But hey, let me clarify: I had nothing to do with it, OK? He won on his own. It’s totally his success because he’s such a dedicated guy with a unique style, and he really showed us what he’s got in his fight with Adesanya. So, the credit is all his. I had nothing to do with it despite the days he spent training with me.”
Pereira decided to move up to light heavyweight after losing his middleweight title to Adesanya in their rematch at UFC 287. He emerged as a title challenger when he edged out former champion Jan Blachowicz in his 205-pound debut at UFC 291 and said he’s not ruling out a return to middleweight.
But now that Strickland is champion, Pereira may have a change of plans.
Seems like my plans to go down one more time to Middleweight ran out…
— Alex "Poatan" Pereira (@AlexPereiraUFC) September 10, 2023
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 293.
