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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Farah Hannoun

Sean Strickland: Alex Pereira ‘is going to make easy work’ of Khalil Rountree at UFC 307

Sean Strickland predicts a dominant win for Alex Pereira at UFC 307.

Pereira (11-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) defends his light heavyweight title against Khalil Rountree (13-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) in Saturday’s main event in Salt Lake City.

Strickland has spent the past couple of weeks training with former foe Pereira, who knocked him out in the first round of their middleweight matchup at UFC 276.

“We’ve had a lot of wars. The problem with Alex is that he hits really f*cking hard, you guys – really f*cking hard. But let me tell you why,” Strickland told The Schmo. “When you get raised in the jungles of Brazil where you don’t have running water and surviving off tapir and wildebeest as an infant, and then you get worked in a tire shop, that’s a hard man to fight. It’s hard, bro, and my daddy issues don’t make up for that level of hardness. So it was good work.”

Strickland thinks Rountree will be completely outmatched wherever the fight goes.

“I just can’t see Khalil pulling it off,” Strickland told Helen Yee. “I think I may have watched him fight Anthony Smith. I just can’t see it happening. I don’t think he has the tools in the toolbox to beat Alex. He’s not knocking him out. He’s not outstriking him. He’s not outwrestling him. I think Alex is going to make easy work of this fight.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307

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