Alex Pereira and Sean Strickland became great friends since they fought each other in 2022. Recently, they had some more practice time together. The unhindered middleweight is famous for his extensive sparring. The Brazilian, a dual-division UFC and GLORY kickboxer, is also akin to it. The duo spent some six minutes on their feet against each other.
The whole sparring snippet starts off with ‘Tarzan’ in his usual Goliath stomps. A consensus boxer deploying the “Philly Shell” extensively, Sean Strickland shells up. Boxing-heavy, he kept shelling limb to limb and side to side while ‘Poatan’ went high and low. While the Xtreme Couture boxer is stiff torso down, the kickboxer in Pereira slowed him to waveform his legs and hit hard.
Subsequently, hit hard, he did! Strickland, 33, found some success in pockets and pushed him to the wall with some high, ranged shots. However, the “Philly Shell” — a non-standard defensive MMA variant of crouch-and-roll boxing is no match to stone hands. While he pounded around with pushes, jabs, and mid-range separation, Alex Pereira was a clear threat.
‘Poatan’ faced ‘Tarzan’ in the featured bout of UFC 276, brutally knocking Strickland out in R1. Punching his pass to the 185-pound gold, the fighter has had unequalized success. Pereira, 37, is #2 in UFC Pound-for-pound listings. Strickland also went 3-0 in 2023 afterward, winning Fighter of the Year honors after a shock upset over Israel Adesanya at UFC 293. The middleweight gave him props after their session.
Sean Strickland praises Alex Pereira’s power: ‘Why do you punch so hard?!’
It’s been a while since Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira snagged a highlight reel knockout over Sean Strickland. But the unhinged American has always praised the stone-hand power of the fighter. Pereira is now a brand value champion and carries a heavyweight-like natural frame. His immense power was on full display when he blew out the competition with a head kick and pounding at UFC 303’s pay-per-view event headliner.
Sean Strickland has been in the thick of it with ‘Poatan’ (Source: es.agfight.com/IG / @AlexPereiraUFC)Meanwhile, Strickland (29-6 MMA, 16-6 UFC) is a more sure-footed boxer with quite the shock treatment capability. The middleweight last outpointed Paulo Costa en route to a split decision (46-49, 50-45, 49-46). Strickland specifically tends to like sparring with low-volume, high-power fighters. He has gone to the mat with Pereira a few times. This time, though, he was once again in awe of his power.
@alexpoatanpereira why do you punch so hard?! We gotta get a scientific study on this man’s power.. Great seeing you man!
Sean Strickland via IG (@stricklandmma)
Pereira has also posted a few clips of their training session on his Instagram reel (H/T MMA Orbit), engaging in light sparring. Coach Plinio Cruz was also present. While Alex Pereira has been making his case as an all-time great fighter, the shared history at middleweight with Izzy is why Strickland respects him so much. That and his unsubdued boisterous shock KO treatment.
