Why Sean Strickland should be worried about Alex Pereira

UFC middleweight contender Sean Strickland is supposed to be a lock for the next shot at the title. But he’s got serious competition in his courtship of a rematch with current champion Dricus Du Plessis.

Light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira has been putting the moves on Du Plessis for the last two weeks. On Sept. 3, not long after Du Plessis defended his title against Israel Adesanya, Pereira let the world know that he was interested in reclaiming the middleweight belt he once held.

On Saturday at UFC 306, Pereira took his pitch to the next level, saying he thinks Du Plessis is too afraid to fight him.

“He never takes it serious, so it shows that he’s scared, you know what I mean?” Pereira said in an interview with Full Send MMA. “Instead of him just saying, ‘Look, UFC. Let’s make me and Pereira fight.’ [he’s a] clown.”

Strickland, on the other hand, has been relatively quiet, posting about politics and his various hobbies rather than trying to stir up drama with Du Plessis. Calling the South African “Dutchman”— ostensibly a dig at Du Plessis’ identity as an African — is about as far as Strickland has gone.