"He won't be a champion for long" – Sean Strickland believes top 5 middleweights can make Alex Pereira's championship run shortlived
Sean Strickland has weighed in on Alex Pereira's future as the UFC middleweight champion.
Strickland recently engaged in a conversation with MMA journalist Helen Yee. 'Tarzan' spoke about various topics like his upcoming fight, his thoughts on the UFC 281 main event, and who should be next in line for a middleweight title shot.
Speaking about Pereira's win over Israel Adesanya at UFC 281, Strickland said that 'Poatan's' reign as the middleweight king would be a short one.
According to 'Tarzan', fighters with good grappling skills, like Robert Whittaker and Marvin Vettori, would surely get the better of the Brazilian inside the octagon:
"If I would have went out there [in my fight with Pereira] and just f**king not been a prideful f**k and wrestled, could I have probably won? Yes. So, the moment like a Whittaker or even like a Marvin, anybody who goes in there and tries to wrestle will win. He [Alex Pereira] won't be a champion for long, but I mean, he's a f**king savage."
Listen to the full conversation below:
Strickland locked horns with Pereira at UFC 276. The fight was a short-lived affair as 'Poatan' knocked Strickland out in the opening minutes of the fight. The Brazilian was also awarded a Performance of the Night bonus worth $50,000 for his victory.
Brendan Schaub weighs in on Alex Pereira's chances against top middleweight contenders
Former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub has echoed Sean Strickland's sentiments on the latest episode of The Schaub Show.
'Big Brown' claimed that fighters currently at the top of the middleweight division would be excited to face off against Alex Pereira:
"I'm not taking anything away from Alex, but I don't think he beats a single guy in the top five. After seeing 'Izzy' and Pereira's grappling and wrestling, I'm sure every guy in the top five is like, 'Dear God! Please give me that guy.'"
Watch the full episode of The Schaub Show below:
Pereira's achievement of becoming the UFC champion has become even more impressive with the fact that the Brazilian did it in just his eighth pro-MMA fight.
Prior to UFC 281, 'Poatan' had only three UFC fights to his name and was victorious in all of them.
But his inexperience in the sport cannot be ignored. Hence, there is a possibility that the former kickboxer may face difficulty if pitted against a highly skilled grappler. He struggled on the ground against Adesanya, who's one of the least skilled grapplers in the top five at middleweight.