‘Imagine Jon Jones…’ Alex Pereira sparks fan concern with footage of him grappling a middleweight

Alex Pereira trains wrestling with fellow ex-UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland

Pereira appears to know that will be the case, and he’s already beginning to put in work on the mats just weeks after his knockout victory over Ankalaev.

The former middleweight and current light heavyweight king has formed a friendship with one of his former adversaries at 185 pounds, Sean Strickland.

They’ve repeatedly been seen training together ever since their clash at UFC 276 in July 2022, where Pereira knocked Strickland out in round one to earn a shot at Israel Adesanya’s title.

‘Poatan’ linked up with the American ex-champ once again and posted footage of their training session on Instagram.

In one video, Pereira is dragged down by Strickland numerous times during wrestling exchanges, while another shows the Brazilian as the offensive grappler.

Fans not convinced Sean Strickland is the training partner Alex Pereira needs to prepare for Jon Jones

A number of fans quickly took to social media to share their reactions to the videos.

Plenty appear to have had their pro-Jones predictions only further cemented by Pereira’s work with Strickland.

“Pereira gets done bad by Jon Jones.”

“Well this isn’t helpful.”

“He better not fight Jones.”

“I’m amazed how he became two-division champion with such weak wrestling skills.”

“Imagine Jon Jones.”

“If he’s gonna fight Jon he needs to go train in Dagestan.”

“Send him to Dagestan.”

“The idea of training your grappling against Sean Strickland.”

“And he wants to fight JJ…”

“Now I get why Khamzat (Chimaev) and Jon Jones want to fight him.”

But not everyone was discouraged by what they saw. Many others suggested that Pereira’s training with Strickland will help improve the Brazilian’s grappling game and takedown defense.

“Strickland has great wrestling.”

“Iron sharpens iron.”

“This is legit and good training. I hope he stays down and defends until he can’t.”

“BTW Pereira is letting Strickland take him down so Pereira can train in those positions and in those positions improve specifically.”

“Good work by both.”

“Sean is a beast.”

“Sean’s grappling is actually elite.”