Alex Pereira and Sean Strickland, somewhat unexpectedly, became friendly following their 2022 middleweight clash and have trained together on occasion since.
The current light heavyweight champion is entering the final stages of his preparation ahead his upcoming UFC 307 title defence against Khalil Rountree Jr., Oct. 5 at Utah’s Delta Center, and Pereira is having Strickland join his team to help.
In a video blog posted Sunday documenting Pereira’s first day of training at altitude in Salt Lake City — something Pereira said he first did ahead of his 205-pound debut against Jan Blachowicz — the combat sports superstar from Brazil disclosed he will be bringing in Strickland to help in late-camp sparring sessions.
Pereira and Strickland are both former undisputed UFC middleweight champions. Pereira earned his 185-pound title shot by knocking Strickland at UFC 276. Pereira, 37, then traded wins with Israel Adesanya before moving up to 205 pounds, where he has gone 4-0, with his past three wins coming in title fights via highlight-reel stoppage.
Strickland eventually rebounded his loss to Pereira and became champion when he defeated Adesanya one year ago. Strickland, who got some help from Pereira prior to facing Adesanya, lost the belt to current champion Dricus Du Plessis in a split decision in January. Du Plessis and Strickland have both won since facing each other and are expected to have a rematch some time later this year or early next year.
It is not uncommon for Pereira to work with former opponents and even rivals after preparing for and competing against them.
Another fighter currently in Pereira’s camp is recent Dana White Contender Series winner (although he didn’t secure a UFC contract) Yousri Belgaroui of Netherlands, who was a three-time opponent of Pereira’s when they competed in kickboxing before switching full-time to mixed martial arts.
Both Strickland and Belgaroui have striking-heavy styles, which should assist Pereira considering Roundtree is a knockout artist with no submission wins and zero registered takedowns in his eight-year UFC career.
In addition to being headlined by a light heavyweight championship main event, UFC 307 features a women’s bantamweight title fight between Raquel Pennington and Julianna Pena in the co-main event.
Also on the card, Kayla Harrison faces Ketlen Vieira, Hall of Famer Jose Aldo continues his post-retirement run against Mario Bautista, Kevin Holland and Roman Dolidze meet at middleweight, Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson takes on Joaquin Buckley, plus the inaugural UFC women’s strawweight champ, Carla Esparza, will participate in her retirement fight against Tecia Pennington.