'Trust me, it's a risk'… Alex Pereira's decision to corner Sean Strickland at UFC 312 slammed by former double champ
Yesterday at 11:55 AM
Ahead of Sean Strickland’s title rematch against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 312, he has drafted in the assistance of current light heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira.
Despite Sean Strickland and Alex Pereira being former opponents of each other, the two became good friends and now consistently train together.
‘Tarzan’ is scheduled to rematch the middleweight champion, Dricus Du Plessis in the UFC 312 main event on February 8, in what is one of the biggest rivalries in recent years.
Ahead of their scheduled fight, both fighters have continuously traded blows with each other online, which started with Strickland offering a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ pact for their fight to only be striking.
Daniel Cormier questions Pereira’s decision to corner Strickland at UFC 312
With Strickland having controversially earned a rematch with ‘Stillknocks’ despite having only picked up a win over Paulo Costa since their last fight, he is hoping to re-write the wrongs of his last fight.
And in hoping to do that, he has drafted in the help of ‘Poatan’, who will be part of his corner team in Sydney, Australia.
Despite the 37-year-old champion agreeing to help his teammate, his decision has been questioned by former UFC double champion turned commentator, Daniel Cormier.
‘DC’ has questioned whether it is sensible for the Brazilian to travel all the way across the world to sit in Strickland’s corner when he should be preparing for his own title fight.
At UFC 313 on March 8, Pereira will defend his 205lb title against his most difficult test to date in number one contender, Magomed Ankalaev.
With his fight against the soaring Russian so close to UFC 312, Cormier believes Pereira is making a ‘dangerous’ decision that he could come to regret.
“What we do know is that Alex Pereira is going to be fighting a guy that could be his most formidable opponent because of the style,” Cormier began to explain on his YouTube channel.
“But we also have to take into effect that his relationship with Strickland is so strong that he’s willing to travel across the world to corner him. To me, it seems dangerous.
“It seems risky for Alex to go all the way to Australia knowing everything that goes into a training camp and how hard that travel can be on your body when you’re preparing to continue to defend your world championship.
“So how strong is that bond? How much does Sean Strickland now mean to Alex Pereira for him to take that risk? Because trust me, it’s a risk,” he continued.
Alex Pereira continues to tease a move up to heavyweight
Prior to the UFC booking his title defense against Ankalaev, ‘Poatan’ continuously hinted at potentially moving up to heavyweight to take on Jon Jones in a superfight.
Although interim champion, Tom Aspinall is still confident a title unification fight can be made, Pereira wants to shake things up by fighting ‘Bones’ himself.
If Jones does stick around to fight Aspinall, despite having admitted that he isn’t keen on the idea and will likely retire instead, Pereira will be keeping a close eye on that as he will potentially face the winner.
