Credit:Getty/UFC
Credit: Getty/UFC
Credit: Getty/UFC
After kicking off his Octagon tenure with two impressive wins,
Alex
Pereira will make his third promotional appearance against
ranked middleweight Sean
Strickland at UFC 276
on July 2.
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As a result of two kickboxing victories against Israel
Adesanya, another impressive performance against Strickland
could fast track Pereira to a title shot against “The Last
Stylebender.”
While oddsmakers have “Poatan” as a slight favorite against
Strickland, Brazilian trainers Rafael
Cordeiro and Vinicio Anthony are not so optimistic about
Pereira’s chances.
“He went to Kings [MMA] a couple of times and did tough sparring
with [Marvin] Vettori,” Cordeiro told Sherdog.com. “He is very hard
to spar against. Long range, very aggressive, always walking
forward. I agree ‘Poatan’ should be favored but I don’t visualize
an easy fight.”
Antony, the former head coach of Vitor
Belfort and Lyoto
Machida, takes it one step further.
“If Poatan fights in the same reckless way he fought Bruno Silva,
he may be knocked out or lose via three rounds of
ground-and-pound,” he said.
Antony says Strickland made a strong impression on him when
Strickland sparred against Machida for five rounds as “The Dragon”
was preparing to face Rafael
Carvalho in Bellator.
“He gave a really hard time to Lyoto in the first two rounds,”
Antony said. “We needed to completely change the strategy in order
for Machida to win the last three rounds. What impressed me the
most about him was his fast transition from striking to takedowns.
He got Lyoto down many times, and I believe Lyoto has a much
better takedown defense than ‘Poatan.’”
Antony believes there is a clear path for Pereira to win the fight
against Strickland.
“Control the distance, avoid brawls like he did with Silva and use
his low kicks to bother Strickland, since he does not have good
movement,” Antony said. “‘Poatan’ is more technical. If he uses the
right strategy, he may win easily, but if he repeats what he did
against ‘Blindado,’ he may get knocked out or smashed in three
rounds.”