Alex Pereira and Strickland are kicking it into high gear with massive championship bouts around the corner.
“Poatan” aims to become the UFC’s first-ever three-division titleholder when he fights Ciryl Gane for an interim heavyweight championship at UFC White House on June 14, while Strickland seeks to regain the middleweight title when he takes on the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 328 on May 9. Ahead of these pivotal bouts, Pereira and Strickland have been training together and Pereira shared
footage of an intense sparring session on Wednesday.
Watch the video below.
Pereira and Strickland first crossed paths at UFC 276 in 2022, when Pereira scored a first-round knockout over Strickland en route to challenging and defeating longtime rival Israel Adesanya to become middleweight champion. Since then, the former foes have frequently trained together, and their latest spar might have brought back some uncomfortable flashbacks for Strickland.
“We’re sparring and he got me to drop my hand,” Strickland said in the clip. “At that moment I just said, ‘Naw, dude. We’re done.’”
Strickland joked about Pereira’s intensity, mimicking Pereira’s aggressive stance even during what was intended to be a light spar.
Pereira is coming off of a first-round knockout of Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 320, a win that made him a two-time 205-pound champion. If he defeats Gane at the White House, Pereira will have held UFC belts at middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight.
For Strickland, he can not only become a two-time middleweight champion by defeating Chimaev, he would be the first of Chimaev’s 16 opponents to hand him a defeat. Chimaev won his title in dominant fashion at UFC 319 this past August with a smothering victory over Dricus du Plessis.
