Alex Pereira: Sean Strickland "100%" More Likely to Beat Israel Adesanya Than Dricus Du Plessis
Former UFC middleweight champion Alex "Poatan" Pereira believes Sean Strickland has the best chance of toppling current champion Israel Adesanya. Pereira made this revelation as part of the UFC 291 pre-fight press conference:
"Fighting Israel Adesanya is a hard fight, but he showed that he can be beaten, we beat him, right? So, Sean Strickland [has] a chance --- different gameplans --- It's hard, but if anybody has a chance against Adesanya [it would] be Sean Strickland, but It's a hard fight."
Pereira went on to remark that "if he put in the work," Strickland should "100%" have a better chance against Adesanya than Dricus Du Plessis.
Israel Adesanya is rumoured to be headlining UFC 293 in Sydney Australia on September 10. His opponent is still unconfirmed as Dricus Du Plessis appears to have pulled out, and now Strickland himself denies allegations that he'll be the replacement opponent.
Strickland remarked in a Tweet on July 26 that the UFC "dropped the ball" on UFC 293, and that "I offered. Best I could do. Maybe we can just have a parking lot event after for the Aussies."
Strickland followed up on the same date, exclaiming that it's "BS to expect [Du Plessis] to fight a world champion after a fight", referring to his quick turnaround after UFC 290, and that if he was Du Plessis, and "the money was right," he'd decline the fight in favor of waiting and recovering.
So who does this leave to challenge Adesanya in September? "Stylebender" has beaten seven of the middleweight top-15, and the highest ranked fighter that he hasn't beaten besides Du Plessis and Strickland is No. 9 Roman Dolidze, who is scheduled against Derek Brunson in November. After that, we have a slew of fighters outside of the top-10 who don't warrant a title shot.
It's a tough spot for Adesanya, who is clearly suffering from success after lapping his division.
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