UFC Champion who landed vicious KO on Sean Strickland added to UFC 312 corner
01/29/2025 11:30 AM
Sean Strickland will call upon the advice of a former opponent as he attempts to reclaim the middleweight title at UFC 312.
Strickland will be looking to exact revenge in Perth, Australia as the former middleweight champion attempts to reclaim the title from the man who beat him for it, Dricus Du Plessis.
Du Plessis claimed the gold at UFC 295 after edging past Strickland to a narrow split-decision win. This will be his second title defence after he successfully retained the title against former champion, Israel Adesanya at UFC 305. Adesanya predicted Du Plessis to beat Strickland, having fought both previously.
In the eyes of some viewers, Strickland did enough in the pair’s first encounter to retain his belt but unfortunately not from the judges’ perspective.
Strickland must make the appropriate changes should he wish to reclaim his title and he looks set on doing so by employing the help of a man who bested him before.
Alex Pereira set to corner Sean Strickland at UFC 312
In an interview with The Schmo, Erick Nicksick revealed that light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira will be joining Strickland’s team down under as he prepares to help his former foe regain the title.
"We will have Alex Pereira in the corner.
"He's a good friend of Sean [Strickland]. He is a great training partner, obviously these guys have fought but after the fight you know it takes a man to go and learn from the guy who caught you with something.
"These guys trained with each other a ton; Sean [Strickland] went up there to help him get ready for Khalil Roundtree and I love having him man, it’s great energy.
"We talked yesterday, and we were going to have a fourth (cornerman) and it was going to be Alex so I can't wait to have him."
Pereira stopped Strickland in his third fight with the promotion before going on to claim the middleweight title from Israel Adesanya at UFC 281.
Strickland and Pereira remained amicable in the build-up to their clash at UFC 276 and have since developed a strong relationship, often helping each other prepare for future opponents.
Now, Pereira is tasked with helping the former middleweight champion reclaim his title from Du Plessis at UFC 312.
Sean Strickland could corner Alex Pereira at UFC 313
Pereira will quickly have to turn his attention back to UFC 313 with a title defence against Magomed Ankalaev awaiting him.
It remains to be seen whether Strickland will return the favour in the light heavyweight champion’s preparations for his third defence, but given he played a part in the camp for Khalil Roundtree it is not out of the realm of possibility.
Pereira and Ankalaev’s bad blood has already spilt over to social media with accusations of the Brazilian attempting to dodge the fight coming from the challenger.
This could be a third successful defence for the former kickboxing champion and with a potential jump to the heavyweight division on the cards, there are opponents wanting to fight him.
A fight between Jon Jones and Pereira has been rumoured ever since Jones’ successful title defence at UFC 309.
Speculation has also arisen around a rumoured fight between Tom Aspinall and Pereira should the heavyweight champion decide to retire.
