Quote: Sean Strickland vs. Alex Pereira Isn’t Worth The Risk For The UFC

Chris Curtis is second-guessing some upcoming matchmaking as it pertains to the UFC 276 bout between Sean Strickland and Alex Pereira.

Chris Curtis has rocketed into the UFC middleweight division and has proved himself a force to be reckoned with. He now has two wins in the divisional and his third appearance is all set. At this time, Curtis is unranked, but he is peering in on what is going on at the top of the division.

He spoke recently with Lowkick MMA about a certain upcoming matchup between Sean Strickland and Alex Pereira.

“It’s weird. You know what’s happening, the fight they’re trying to make (Adesanya vs. Pereira). They need Pereira to have a legitimate win,” Curtis said. “They’re really trying to give him a meaningful opponent. But I think this was probably handled in the weirdest way. I’m guessing they hope that Strickland can’t knock him out because Strickland isn’t a knockout puncher. But people forget that Strickland is a jiu-jitsu black belt, and ever since the Usman fight, I’m telling you guys, this dude has become one of the better wrestlers in the division.”

Pereira is the only man besides Jan Blachowicz to hand champion Israel Adesanya a loss. The loss came back in 2017 in a kickboxing match. Now that Pereira is signed with the UFC, many believe that is the fight to make for both men. A rematch of that kickboxing fight but in MMA would interest most fans. As of now, however, Pereira only has two wins in the UFC.

“I think they kinda rolled the dice on the wrong stats sheet on this one,” Curtis said. “We all see what they’re doing, but I just think it was a bad decision… This isn’t kickboxing, this is MMA. I think people get swept up in the storyline a little bit… I think this is a really risky bet on the UFC’s part. If he loses to Sean, what do you do with him?”

Strickland and Pereira will be meeting on the main card of the upcoming UFC PPV event UFC 276. That card will be headlined by Adesanaya when he takes on Jared Cannonier for the middleweight title.

Do you want to see Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira face-off inside the Octagon?

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