Michael Bisping has no issue with Alex Pereira cornering Sean Strickland at UFC 312.
This Saturday, Strickland challenges Dricus du Plessis for the middleweight title in the main event of UFC 312, and when he does, current light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira will be in his corner.
Back in 2022, Pereira knocked out Strickland in a middleweight title eliminator, but the two have since become friends and occasional training partners, which led to Pereira joining Strickland in Sydney this weekend. It’s a decision that some people, like UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier, criticized given that “Poatan” defends his light heavyweight title against Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313 next month in Las Vegas, and Bisping understands why.
“DC thinks it’s a bad idea. I’ve got a theory on why he’s doing it,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel. “The reality is, for Alex Pereira, flying to the other side of the world a few weeks before his title fight against Magomed Ankalaev, that a lot of people think is the toughest matchup for him at 205, and I’ll probably agree with that, as well. They think it’s a bad idea.
“Daniel Cormier said once you go out there, you go to Australia, you got to deal with jet lag, different food, the training regimen won’t be the same, and all the rest of it. They are all valid points. And by the way, the whole time Pereira is doing that, Magomed Ankalaev is working his god damn ass off, because Pereira, if he beats him, he becomes a legend himself. And every single time he’s standing there with Sean Strickland and doing all that type of stuff, Pereira is not advancing his game, he’s not defending takedowns and all the rest of it. So what is going on?”
That being said, Bisping has a pretty simple explanation for why Pereira might adopt such a risk before a title fight of his own: it’s a win-win situation.
“Sean Strickland has trained with Magomed Ankalaev, so there’s definitely some synergy there, and there’s some ways that Sean Strickland can help Pereira,” Bisping said. “Tell him what he does in the gym and all that type of stuff. …
“The reason Alex Pereira is going to Australia is because he’s going to get paid a shit-ton of money! There will be appearances galore. He’s the biggest star in all of the sport. He can do a signing, he can do appearances, he can do a seminar. He can just show up at a bar and have a few beers and he’ll get paid.
“He’ll go off to Australia and he’ll make like $100,000-$150,000. And then on top of that, whilst he’s there, he gets to be a good teammate, he gets in the good graces of everybody. Everybody thinks, ‘Wow, what a guy! This man is incredible! He’s so sacrificial! He puts others before himself.’ So it’s a nice PR move. And I don’t know this, but he’s probably going to get paid a ton of money.”
Bisping later added that he wasn’t certain this was behind Pereira’s decision but said he “would bet a lot of money” that Pereira was making a considerable sum this weekend.
And even if that’s not the case, Bisping still thinks there’s very little downside. With his title fight over a month away, Pereira can have his cake and eat it too.
“I don’t think it’s going to affect his fight against Magomed Ankalaev,” Bisping said. “That’s about five, six weeks away, something like that. So it doesn’t really matter. It’s not ideal, it’s not optimum, but you do have to make the most of these opportunities. He isn’t going to be the champ forever. …
“You want to spread your fanbase. You want to go out there and connect with people. That’s how you grow as a star. You’ve got to maximize on this opportunity.”
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If Alex Pereira loses to Magomed Ankalaev, this will be the silliest story. I’m here for it.
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