Even UFC middleweight berserker Alex Pereira will get scared typically.
The previous GLORY two-division champion and newly-crowned UFC middleweight titleholder revealed to So Papos MMA that he was afraid to combat Sean Strickland previous to knocking him out at UFC 276, admitting that he felt intimidated when the latter locked eyes with him earlier than their combat.
“Speaking about my final combat, [Strickland] had 25 fights, was doing effectively within the UFC, ranked No. 4 within the middleweight rankings, he’s harmful, he’s skilled,” Pereira stated (h/t MMAMania). “I used to be scared, however once I heard him discuss, I relaxed a bit bit. He is an efficient fighter and an skilled one, however he was speaking some stuff that didn’t make any sense. For a number of months because the combat was booked I had worry, nevertheless it was beneath management. However I’ll let you know once I was probably the most afraid. Every thing he stated and up till the weigh-in, the whole lot was advantageous. When he entered the octagon and began gazing me, he hadn’t checked out me that approach earlier than. That was once I grew to become scared.”
He continued: “He’s one other individual contained in the Octagon, completely different from his regular character. I believed ‘This man desires to kill me’ I’m telling you; this was a unique man from the whole lot else. However ultimately, it was good that he entered the octagon this fashion, as a result of it woke me up, I grew to become conscious of the hazard, I knew I couldn’t make errors. I stated rattling, he’s completely different in right here, you need to watch out with this man. I went in smarter and managed to catch him.”
Pereira ended up knocking Strickland out with the identical left hook he used to flatten Israel Adesanya of their 2017 kickboxing match at Glory of Heroes 7. The win catapulted him into UFC title rivalry the place he TKO’d Adesanya to win the middleweight championship, turning into the primary man to complete ‘The Final Stylebender’ in kickboxing and MMA. He’s presently #8 within the UFC males’s pound-for-pound rankings.
