Sean Strickland reacts to Alex Pereira’s potential return to middleweight: “He looked like death…”

Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland reacted to Alex Pereira’s recent tease that he might return to the division after watching UFC 305.

Strickland is the likely next title challenger for Dricus du Plessis after UFC 305 last weekend. Du Plessis overcame a back-and-forth first three rounds of the fight to submit Israel Adesanya by rear-naked choke to retain the belt.

Strickland, whose brief title reign ended against du Plessis at UFC 297, is on track for a rematch after a win at UFC 302. He defeated former title challenger Paulo Costa by split decision.

Another interesting element in the UFC middleweight division is Pereira, the UFC’s light heavyweight champion. Before moving full-time to light heavyweight, Pereira split two title fights against Adesanya and became the fastest in promotional history to earn multiple championships.

After watching du Plessis’s win at UFC 305, Pereira teased a possible return to middleweight in a social media post. But, Strickland feels the former middleweight titleholder is bluffing.

Sean Strickland dismisses Alex Pereira’s possible 185lb return

During a recent interview with ESPN‘s Brett Okamoto, Strickland explained why Pereira returning to middleweight wouldn’t be a good idea.

“His big a** ain’t going back down to 185 dude,” Strickland said of Pereira. “As a welterweight that moved up to 185, once you get used to that weight class, the thought of going back down sounds miserable. I think Alex should fight [Dricus du Plessis] at 205 any day of the week. Any day of the week, he sits at 205, 100 percent…

“I remember seeing Alex for his last fight [at middleweight] in the back room, and he looked like death… I went to say hi to him; he looked like death. To the point where I’m like ‘Man, this ain’t good for you dude, go up’. 205 he’d do in a heartbeat, but 185 I can’t see him doing that, luckily for us.”

The du Plessis vs. Strickland rematch could potentially happen by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Pereira is set to defend the UFC light heavyweight title against Khalil Rountree at UFC 307.