UFC middleweight star Sean Strickland suffered a brutal KO loss to Alex Pereira during UFC 276 on Saturday night.
They clashed during the night’s featured bout at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. With a presumed title fight on the line, the two met in the middle of the Octagon and exchanged hands and feet until “Poatan” landed a crushing left hook, dropping Strickland.
Pereira followed it up and put out the brash fighter, earning his highest-profile win in the UFC. Although Poatan is only 6-1 as a professional mixed martial artist, the former two-division Glory champion will likely be the next up for current middleweight king Israel Adesanya.
“The Last Stylebender” battled Jared Cannonier during the night’s main event, and he won via unanimous decision. His victory over Cannonier marked The Last Stylebender’s fifth middleweight title defense. He’s now 23-1 as a professional mixed martial artist, continuing his dominance in the division.
Adesanya vs. Pereira is an exciting clash as the two have already met twice in kickboxing and the latter won both contests. And in their last fight, which took place in 2017, Pereira knocked out Adesanya.
Strickland Broke His Silence After the Loss, Said It Was ‘Depressing’ & He Plans to Climb the Ladder Again
Strickland entered the Octagon as the No. 4-ranked UFC middleweight and when the standings update next week, he’ll likely lose his spot.
Strickland broke his silence by posting a video on his Instagram a little while after the fight. In the caption of the Instagram post, Strickland wrote: “Well that was depressing, time to go sit in a dark room and be depressed for awhile!!!!! Lmao!!!!”
“Well, that sucked,” Strickland said in the video. “You never want to be someone’s highlight, but that’s the game we play. You know, I tried to stand and bang with one of the best kickboxer.
“The s**** part about it was, you know, during the round I kept thinking, ‘Man, this is going to be an easy fight. I see everything this guy’s throwing. I’m getting the better of the exchanges. I’m going to beat this guy up for three rounds.’
“And then halfway through I got caught. So, hats off to Alex. He’s a f****** killer. Thank you to all my coaches. Sorry we didn’t get the win. It’s depressing, I’m going to f****** go be sad for awhile.
“And fans, thank you for supporting me. On to the next one. It’s time to climb up the ladder again.
Watch his video via the embedded Instagram post below:
Comments
UFC Star Sean Strickland Breaks Silence After Brutal KO Loss