Alex Pereira is currently scheduled to defend his UFC light heavyweight title against top challenger Khalil Rountree at UFC 307. Pereira would fight for the third time this year and is looking forward to continuing his winning streak. Ahead of the fight, the Brazilian has already started his training camp and was recently observed training with Sean Strickland.
Sean Strickland and Alex Pereira previously fought each other, where Pereira brutally knocked out the former middleweight champion. After sharing the octagon, Pereira and Strickland became friends and have trained with each other several times. This time, other than preparing Pereira for his fight, Strickland is also focused on his potential opponent Dricus Du Plessis.
Let’s go Dutch man… we’re waiting for him to say when… it’s time Dutchman.
Sean Strickland via X
Sean Strickland lost his UFC middleweight championship to Dricus Du Plessis in a controversial fight at UFC 297. Since then, the fighter has bounced back and beat Paulo Costa. Now, he’s eager to get his hands on DDP and finish his retribution arc. Given their rivalry, fans are expecting a highly charged fight week.
Similarly to Strickland, Alex Pereira is also interested in coming down to middleweight and fighting Dricus Du Plessis. The Brazilian believes it would be a fairly easy fight for him and Dana White is also thrilled by this development. However, before that, he will first have to go through Khalil Rountree.
Sean Strickland warns fans about Khalil Rountree
Sean Strickland is not a huge fan of Khalil Rountree and both fighters have a history. The feud between Strickland and Rountree started after Rountree delivered an emotional speech following his UFC Fight Night 203 victory in March 2022. Rountree spoke about overcoming personal hardships, but Strickland slammed him, calling his speech ‘cringe’.
Strickland aggressively insulted Rountree’s fragility, exacerbating their rivalry despite their shared MMA backgrounds. Both trained at Syndicate MMA and have seen each other up close. While replying to fans who defended Rountree, Strickland went into detail about their past.
You guys have no concept of who this man is…. He s***s soo much.. If you ever hung out with him for more than 60 seconds you would hate him… God, he s***s
Sean Strickland via X
You guys have no concept of who this man is…. He sucks soo much.. If you ever hung out with him for more than 60 seconds you would hate him… God he sucks pic.twitter.com/j1ALx7ySmT
— Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) March 14, 2022
When asked about this, Rountree chose not to answer and refused to acknowledge Strickland’s existence. Is this the reason why Strickland is rooting for Alex Pereira to beat Rountree? Well, only time will tell. For now, all these connections have certainly made the whole fight more interesting.
