There’s little doubt Alex Pereira can depart any man unconscious on the canvas in an MMA battle. At UFC 276, nevertheless, he needs to make a unique type of assertion.
Set to return in a possible No. 1 contender bout towards Sean Strickland on July 2 — the identical night time Pereira’s famous rival, Israel Adesanya, is predicted to defend his UFC middleweight title towards Jared Cannonier — “Poatan” is out to dominate.
“Actually, I’m not fascinated by a knockout,” Pereira stated on this week’s episode of MMA Preventing podcast Trocação Franca. “If it’s a battle [that ends] by choice, successful clearly, I’d desire it. I need really feel [the fight], you understand? Similar to the [Bruno Santos] battle — three rounds, a warfare, him making an attempt to take me down and myself defending it. If I get taken down, I’m getting again up and perhaps taking him down as properly.”
Pereira is a former two-division champion in GLORY who walked away from kickboxing to focus full-time on his MMA profession in 2021. After going 2-0 in his first two UFC bouts, together with a spectacular flying-knee knockout of Andreas Michailidis in his octagon debut, Pereira might earn a shot on the title with a win at UFC 276. That holds much more true if Adesanya emerges victorious towards Cannonier, as Pereira has defeated “The Final Stylebender” twice in kickboxing and the 2 proceed to have a fiery rivalry.
Strickland, alternatively, is gunning for his likelihood at UFC gold after successful six straight bouts, most lately in a five-round choice over Jack Hermansson.
“He’s a harmful man, very powerful,” Pereira stated of Strickland. “However, with my combating type, I believe it’s an ideal battle for me. He comes ahead prepared to have interaction, you understand? He needs to win. That motivates me loads. I believe my approach might be higher than his.”
Pereira is just a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and believes Strickland will “insist” on approaching the battle with takedowns in thoughts. The previous kickboxing star stated he can also showcase his personal grappling acumen, however solely when it’s not only a “waste of power.”
“I see many openings in his sport. There are such a lot of issues I can do there,” Pereira stated of Strickland, who hasn’t misplaced since a first-round knockout to welterweight Elizeu Zaleski in 2018. “Even that battle he misplaced to the Brazilian with a spinning kick, he’s getting lots of expertise since. Possibly it wasn’t simply that he moved up in weight, I believe he’s evolving. Six fights [since then] is loads, you understand?”
In a earlier interview with Trocação Franca, Pereira stated Adesanya was “scared s***” of going through him in MMA and predicted the champ would run from him.
Three months later, Pereira is prepared for his shot.
“I don’t know what’s going to occur [after UFC 276],” Pereira stated. “Individuals have been asking for the Adesanya battle and the title battle ever since I signed [with the UFC]. I got here in saying I needed to battle for the belt towards whoever held it, and he’s there. I don’t know the way it’s going to be, however I’ll be prepared for one, two, three, what number of extra fights the group needs me to take. However we are able to see it’s being a fast course of. I’m prepared [now].”
Will Adesanya depart the T-Cell Enviornment in Las Vegas because the reining 185-pound king, although?
Pereira believes it’ll be powerful for any middleweight aside from him to beat the UFC champion in the intervening time, and he broke down precisely how he thinks Adesanya will defeat Cannonier.
“What is going to make the distinction on this battle is the kick to the thigh,” Pereira stated. “[People will say,] ‘However Alex, he gained by head kick KO or a knee.’ However have a look at the way it began, how [Cannonier] is performing after these kicks. It’s laborious to harm somebody with the fingers. You KO folks with the fingers, you understand? The kick is supposed to harm.
“What’s Adesanya goes to do [against me]? Kick me? I’ll defend it. The protection I do, it hurts folks as properly. He does that properly, he hurts folks. I gained’t point out names right here, however you possibly can see folks he’s fought. [And people] won’t ever speak about this kick [to the thigh].”
