All eyes were on the Sean Strickland vs. Alex Pereira fight as it was widely thought whoever won the fight would get the shot at the champion next. It was clear that Strickland was hoping to face Israel Adesanya as his comic routine landed hard at the UFC 276 media day.
But the tension and the UFC’s obvious hope was that Pereira as they were selling on the fact that Pereira beat Adesanya twice in their kickboxing days.
But this is MMA and anything was possible.
And Pereira proved he’s the real deal when he dropped Strickland, fairly easily just 2:36 into the first round.
After the fight he called out the champion, reiterating that he’s good in MMA and kickboxing, much to the delight of the Las Vegas crowd.
Alex Pereira stuns Sean Strickland with nasty KO, calls out Israel Adesanya