All eyes are seemingly on Alex Pereira as he enters UFC 276, an event in which he can earn a shot at middleweight champion Israel Adesanya if the stars align.
Maybe the general public’s conversation is overlooking his title eliminator matchup vs. Sean Strickland a bit, but Pereira (5-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) says he isn’t. Although Strickland(25-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC) hasn’t wowed him, Pereira recognizes the threat.
“Not exactly impressed, but I paid attention to him,” Pereira recently told MMA Junkie using a translator. “After our fight was booked I checked his fights. He’s dangerous, talented, has been showing his skills and potential, and I need to be alert to that.”
While Pereira’s two UFC fights have already escalated him to the doorstep of title contention, Strickland has slowly but surely built a six-fight winning streak – and a name for himself in the process. Over the past few years, Strickland has meshed his victories inside the cage with controversial comments outside of it. Pereira has heard about Strickland’s persona but doesn’t really pay attention.
“To be honest with you, I don’t check that all that much,” Pereira said. “My only social media is Instagram. I don’t have a Twitter account, but if he’s saying anything it doesn’t make a difference for me. I’m focused. I don’t care about provocation. I know how to deal with it, so it doesn’t matter what he says.”
The crossroads of skill and persona meet at a head for Strickland when he barks and trash talks opponents during a fight. Pereira expects UFC 276 to be no different but plans to use it as affirmation Strickland is frustrated.
“It won’t. I can even talk back, like with my last opponent, there was a time I clapped back at his corners for some of the things they were saying,” Pereira said. “Some people said it got in my way, but I’ve done that a few times before. Some times I use it as a strategy too. So it’s not something that affects me. It’s all planned. Sometimes I play around with my training partners, I try some tricky things here and there and say, ‘Look what I’m doing, look what I’m gonna do at the fight.’ It’s all planned. I won’t lose focus for it. Perhaps I see it as him doing it because he’s frustrated. I’ll realize what his real intentions through his actions. It could be a good telling for me.”
Pereira predicts a victory Saturday one way or another. Despite his reputation as a knockout artist, Pereira sees a decision as a potentially likely outcome. Whatever the method, Pereira thinks his seventh pro MMA fight will be a big experience-builder.
“I believe I’ll have a great win,” Pereira said. “Like I always say, I want to get experience in the fights, fighting three rounds of five minutes is different for me, so I need to rack up some experience. If a KO comes it’ll be from the opportunity that was present to me. But I’m going in there to get a clear win and get as much experience from this fight as possible. I want people to be watching to have no doubt that I was the winner of the fight. If I win by points, I want to be as clear as possible. But if I get to finish him it’ll be great.”
UFC 276 takes place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view after prelims on ABC/ESPN+.
