Strickland is set to meet former two-time kickboxing champion GLORY on Saturday at UFC 276. The controversial American has a perfect 5-0 since climbing to 185 pounds and is currently No. 8 in the MMA Fighting middleweight division at people. Pereira, on the other hand, has just five total wins in his entire MMA career and enters the pay-per-view match with just 2-0 in the UFC without a single win over a ranking opponent. Despite this inexperience, UFC President Dana White had already made it clear that Pereira could be the next in line for a title shot against Israel Adesanya winner Jared Cannonier if he manages to beat Strickland, if only because of the history of Pereira and Adesanya. sharing dating back to their days in kickboxing. And it is safe to say that Strickland understands exactly why the UFC targeted him as the man to test Pereira at UFC 276. “If we learned anything about the UFC rankings, [they] “It means nothing,” Strickland said on Wednesday at UFC 276 media day. “At the end of the day, it means nothing. He’s the one who knocked out Izzy, so it’s like what you can do: You can get him to leave and then he will eventually fight a wrestler who will take him down and beat him, and then they will never get his shot Izzy, or they could be like, “Hi, why don’t we have him fight Sean?” Sean does not like to fight. Maybe if [Pereira] defeats him, then we could raise him to the top “. “So this is literally just a trick from the UFC, which puts him against someone who likes to hit, probably to give him a shot with Izzy. “Well, UFC, I applaud you, but I can fight.” The rivalry between Pereira and Adesanya has been on the UFC radar since Pereira made his debut with a spectacular knockout by Andreas Michailidis in November 2021. Pereira and Antesania have fought twice before in kickboxing. In their first meeting in April 2016, the Brazilian won a decision for the future UFC champion. A year later, Pereira knocked out with a top performance against Adesanya in the rematch of March 2017. However, even if Strickland knows that his strongest advantage in UFC 276 will be on the mat, he is not afraid of the prospect of standing with the former double champion GLORY.
“This is the issue, man. Here is the f **. Let me tell you something guys. “There is not a single GLORY f

  • kickboxer in any f
  • weight class that I could not bear to hit,” said Stickland. “So do not tell me just because you are a great Brazilian and you beat Izzy 20 years ago that I can not stand with you. “Come on, mother *. Go away.” With that said, Strickland has admitted that he is not afraid to call for a sound if things start to move fast south against Pereira at UFC 276 as soon as the time comes. “We will find out,” Strickland said. “I do not really come up with a game plan. I mean, obviously, if I go in there and it starts to hurt me, yes, I will take the path of cowardice and try to fight. “But I hope to endure and strike with this giant scary Brazilian.”