Sean Strickland is going to have one of his former opponents in his corner once again when he returns at UFC 312. The former middleweight champion has struck up a great relationship with Alex Pereira ever since the two men faced each other inside the Octagon at UFC 276 in 2022.
Strickland’s head coach, Eric Nicksick, recently confirmed that “Poatan” will be a part of his coaching staff on February 8 in Australia when he takes on Dricus Du Plessis in a rematch for the 185-pound gold. In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Strickland told Mike Bohn that having Pereira step in was his idea.
“Alex was out there and I asked him like, ‘You’re out there, if you’re free, come on through’. I asked Eric as well and he said he’s down. He’s a good f****** dude. He has a tough fight coming up with Ankalaev and if he needs me for that to help, I’ll be out there helping him so it kind of goes mutual.”
The most surprising element of this is that whilst Pereira has cornered Strickland in the past, he has his own huge fight coming up the following month at UFC 313 in Las Vegas. His opponent on that night, Magomed Ankalaev, has also spent some time training with Strickland at Xtreme Couture in the fight capital but this hasn’t been the case for his recent camps.
Strickland said that with that in mind, there isn’t a conflict of interests when it comes to choosing which guy to help out.
“Alex has gone out of his way to help me. Me and Ankalaev, we have this mutual respect in the same place and Ankalaev’s a great guy but if Alex needs me after this fight, I’ll be going to Connecticut to give him some work.”
When asked about what Pereira brings to the table as a cornerman for his upcoming title fight, Strickland spoke more about the character of the light heavyweight champion than anything else. He values the Brazilian as someone that he would fight alongside in the street and having those kinds of people make the walk with him is an asset.
Strickland stated that the friendship between him and Pereira doesn’t even run that deep but there is a lot of respect between them. He spoke about how it’s impossible to not be impressed and inspired by what “Poatan” has been able to accomplish after turning his life around to become a huge star in combat sports after finding himself in a rough spot.
“Dude, we’re not even that close. We don’t even speak the same language, he doesn’t speak English. It’s more of like and you got to have respect for Alex. Like dude, where did that man come from? A tire shop, dude. He came from literally nothing and has made a life for himself. As an American, Alex is kind of the American dream. Likes guns. You know, as an American, you have to have respect for someone with that kind of drive and dedication.”