Pereira Back in Camp with Strickland: Will It Be Enough to Reclaim Light Heavyweight Gold?
Less than a month out from his title fight, former Middleweight and Light Heavyweight champion, Alex “Poatan” Pereira, has recruited the help of a previous opponent and friend, Sean Strickland. Both men shared the octagon over three years ago in a fight that, after securing a knockout over Strickland, would ultimately grant Pereira the opportunity to fight then champion and former Glory Kickboxing rival, Israel Adesanya, in a match that would propel Poatan to super-stardom after claiming Middleweight gold. Since then, Strickland and Pereira have grown close as training partners and friends. They have cornered each other in their respective bouts and have been a part of each other’s fight camps many times. It seems this upcoming title fight will be no different for the unlikely pair.
Pereira’s last fight resulted in a unanimous decision loss against the current Light Heavyweight champion, Magomed Ankalaev. There was speculation that Pereira had entered the fight sick and with a less-than-stellar training camp. Inside the octagon, he appeared to be sluggish and less accurate than he had in previous outings. Some analysts attributed the lower offensive output to the threat of Ankalaev’s grappling, which had been a problem for many of his previous opponents. Either way, Poatan was unable to walk out of the octagon with the belt and has now gone back to being the challenger. With his rematch looming, what skills could Pereira be sharpening at the end of this camp?
Based on the footage shared by Strickland on his Instagram, he and Pereira are preparing a striking heavy camp. Strickland is the best defensive striker within the promotion. His modified Philly-shell has proved to be a difficult hurdle for many of the division’s best strikers to get through. It’s worth mentioning that in the match in which Pereira lost his title, the former champ absorbed many more blows than he had before in any of his LHW title fights. A training partner with a defense as well-rounded as Strickland could prove to be the edge that Pereira needs to overcome the sitting champion. It’s hard to know who will win this rematch, but Poatan has never been one to allow himself to stay down. This very well may be his toughest challenge yet, but only time will tell if Pereira has made the adjustments necessary to become champion again.
