"They never let him fight a Marvin Vettori or anyone that can stymie him" - Daniel Cormier lauds UFC's "perfect matchmaking" following Alex Pereira's win over Sean Strickland
Daniel Cormier is impressed with the UFC's matchmaking when it comes to latest middleweight contender Alex Pereira. Cormier noted that the kickboxing champion wasn't pitted against dominant wrestlers like Marvin Vettori, who could potentially hamper his rise to the top of the division.
Following a brutal KO win over Sean Strickland at UFC 276, Pereira will now likely face former kickboxing rival Israel Adesanya. The Brazilian holds two kickboxing wins over 'The Last Stylerbender', including a knockout in 2016.
Furthermore, according to Cormier, fans should not get carried away by Pereira's unanimous decision win over Adesanya in their first fight. 'DC' also noted that 'The Last Stylebender' was outclassing Pereira in the rematch before getting knocked out. The UFC hall-of-famer said on The DC&RC Show:
"The UFC matchmaking [inaudible] perfect with this guy. Because they never let him fight a Marvin Vettori or anyone that can stymie him and hold him against the side of the octagon. And now you get him vs. Izzy. But I want to tell people RC, 'Don't get too lost in the results of the first fight [Adesanya vs. Pereira]. Izzy was beating him in the second fight. Izzy was winning the second fight and got knocked out. So go back and watch that kickboxing fight before we rush to judgement and rush to expectation of what Alex Pereira can do to Israel Adesanya."
Watch the latest episode of the DC&RC Show below:
Sean Strickland saw the Alex Pereira fight as the UFC's ploy to set 'Poatan' up for title contention
Despite being relatively new to MMA, Alex Pereira was the betting favorite going into his UFC 276 bout against a far more experienced Sean Strickland.With just three outings in the promotion, Pereira is now likely to make a bid for UFC gold against Israel Adesanya.
According to Strickland, he was pitted against 'Poatan' by the UFC so that the Brazilian's hype train wasn't derailed by a grappler. While he eventually chose to strike with the former Glory kickboxing champion, 'Tarzan' had initially threatened a wrestling-heavy approach. The 31-year-old said during the pre-fight presser:
"He’s the one that knocked out Izzy, so it’s like here’s what you can do: You can have him go and then he’ll eventually fight a wrestler who will take him down and beat him, and then they’ll never get the Izzy shot, or they could be like, ‘Hey, why don’t we have him fight Sean? Sean doesn’t like to wrestle. Maybe if [Pereira] beats him, then we could float him to the top.’ So this is literally purely just a ploy by the UFC, putting him against somebody who likes to strike, to potentially get him an Izzy shot. So, UFC, I applaud you, but I might f****** wrestle."
Watch Strickland's appearance at the pre-fight presser below: