Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland will have a familiar face in his corner in Australia early next month.
Strickland is set to headline the promotion’s second pay-per-view of the new year, UFC 312 at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney on Feb. 8. There, he will look to exact revenge on Dricus Du Plessis and win back the 185-pound gold.
The polarizing American will be back at the venue inside of which he became champ in September 2023 by outpointing Israel Adesanya. He’ll hope to repeat that feat in a rematch with Du Plessis, who brought “Tarzan’s” reign to an end in its first defense 12 months ago.
And in his bid to reclaim the throne, Strickland is employing the help of a prominent former opponent-turned-occasional training partner.
“We will have Alex Pereira in the corner, so dropping the news right now,” coach Eric Nicksick said told The Schmo.. “He’s a good friend of Sean. He’s a great training partner. Obviously, these guys have fought, but after the fight, I think it takes a man to go and learn from the guy who caught you with something.”
Pereira and Strickland shared the cage in the summer of 2022, with “Poatan” violently stopping the latter in the first round to secure his title shot opposite Israel Adesanya later in the year.
The pair have since formed a friendship and have frequently been seen training together. The Brazilian has also cornered his ex-opponent in the past, assuming the role for Strickland’s narrow defeat to Du Plessis in Canada last January.
