Alex Pereira is scheduled to face Jan Blachowicz at UFC 291 this Saturday, before that, Pereira gave his take on Middleweight Champion- Israel Adesanya potentially fighting Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland during UFC 291 media day.
The power in this matchup is crazy 👊@JanBlachowicz vs @AlexPereiraUFC is just two days away! #UFC291 pic.twitter.com/kB6zWnbPDe
— UFC (@ufc) July 27, 2023
Pereira was asked on how he thought a potential fight between Adesanya and Du Plessis would go. Pereira answered, “Honestly man, I don’t know if it’s maybe too much for Du Plessis because Adesanya’s way superior, and looking at this fight overall it’s a fight that doesn’t make too much sense to me.”
Pereira was then asked about his recent training with former opponent- Sean Strickland. “No, he’s actually a very nice guy, swears a lot but a nice guy, and maybe he does that for the cameras. But he came over to the gym, nice guy, humble guy, and also the atmosphere there it’s a family gym, have kids, all types of people there.” Pereira said. Pereira was then asked about Strickland’s chances against Adesanya, Pereira said, “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 anybody has a chance against Adesanya, that’ll be Sean Strickland.”
The follow-up question was if Pereira thought Strickland had a better chance than Du Plessis in defeating Adesanya to which Pereira replied, “100% if Sean Strickland puts in the work, he should (win).”
Alex Pereira (7-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) will make his debut at Light Heavyweight for the promotion as he battles Jan Blachowicz (29-9-1 MMA, 12-6-1 UFC) in the co-main event of UFC 291. In the middleweight division, following Dricus Du Plessis’ (20-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) stunning win over Robert Whittaker (24-7 MMA, 15-5 UFC) it was expected Du Plessis would get the next chance at Israel Adesanya’s title but after recent reports, it seems he won’t be ready in time for UFC 293 in September. Recent rumors and even statements from the champ– Adesanya (24-2 MMA, 13-2 UFC) seem to indicate that Sean Strickland (27-5 MMA, 14-5 UFC) will be his opponent in Sydney for UFC 293.
