Sean Strickland thinks Alex Pereira is the second coming of Chuck Liddell.
UFC 320 saw ‘Poatan’ reclaim the 205-pound crown, scoring an incredible 80-second knockout against Magomed Ankalaev in the evening’s headliner.
Strickland, who knows a thing or two about the kind of power Pereira possesses, likened ‘Poatan’ to another UFC light heavyweight legend during an interview with MMA Junkie.
“The guy has a death punch, dude,” Strickland said. “Like, f*ck a dude. Like Ankalaev dude, he came and trained with us, so he’s so f*cking good, dude. But like Alex just has that thing that like comes once in a lifetime. Like Chuck Liddell had it. There’s some guys that just have that death punch. That’s Alex. And I’ll give you an example.”
“So I’m sparring with Alex in Connecticut and we’re having a f*cking war, dude,” Strickland continued. “We’re doing three hard rounds and I somehow managed not to get hit with any big shots, and I’m walking away real—like I’m dead tired. I’m walking away really good, and they bring in this pretty high-level wrestler, and this guy is just f*cking mauling Alex on round four. Mind you, this guy’s fresh.
“Me and Alex just had a three-round f*cking war, and this man is just mauling Alex, throwing overhands, has him in his cage and about like halfway through the round, Alex just like touches him with an uppercut, and the round’s done. And then Alex just like—I mean, he could have f*cking blew on him and knocked him over, and just like that kind of power. It just—I mean, you got to be like what a 6’4″ giant f*cking Brazilian I guess.”
What’s next for Pereira remains to be seen, but it sounds like a shot at becoming the UFC’s first-ever three-division champion may be on the docket.
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