Sean Strickland Picks Khamzat Chimaev To Defeat Alex Pereira Ahead Of Potential Clash

Following his brutal first round knockout loss to Alex Pereira earlier this month at UFC 276, Sean Strickland has picked undefeated welterweight surge, Khamzat Chimaev to defeat the Brazilian in a potential fight – which Chimaev’s has notably called for. 

Strickland, who saw his seven-fight winning run halted earlier this month during International Fight Week, suffered a massive left hook knockout loss to Pereira in the pair’s billed title-eliminator at the middleweight limit.

The victory came as Sao Paulo native, Pereira’s third consecutively since his November UFC bow, adding Strickland to a prior knockout success against Andreas Michailidis, as well as a judging win over Bruno Silva.

Expected to challenge past GLORY Kickboxing rival, middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya next before the close of this year, Pereira received a call out from the aforenoted, Chimaev following his knockout win over Strickland, however, remained coy on a potential fight with the Chechen-born mauler. 

“I’m gonna keep the same line that I always do,” Alex Pereira said. “See what’s in front of me, not what is ahead. Same with (the) Sean Strickland fight. People were talking about Israel’s (Adesanya) fight and I said, ‘Look, I’ve got to take care of this first.’”

“Right now, I’m gonna take care of my fight with Israel for the title and then after that, we’ll see about that,” Alex Pereira said of a fight with Khamzat Chimaev. “To be the champion, that’s my goal.”

Sean Strickland picks Khamzat Chimaev to likely defeat Alex Pereira

Picking his brief Xtreme Couture training partner, Khamzat Chimaev to defeat Pereira, Strickland maintained the former would not approach a fight with the heavy hitter from an egotistical field of view – which he admitted he did.

“You know what, man – I think (Khamzat) Chimaev could pull that off,” Sean Strickland told Helen Yee during a recent interview. “Chimaev’s not me. Chimaev’s not going to be an egotistical f*ckhead. Chimaev’s gonna do what he does, and he wrestles.”

“Me on the other hand, I said, ‘F*ck that Brazilian, we’re gonna kickbox.’” Sean Strickland continued. “Should I have wrestled? Maybe, but I think if Chimaev went in there and he just wrestled hard, i think he could grind out three rounds with him and take a W – but again, no one wants to see that sh*t. It’s MMA but really, it’s kickboxing, come on.”