Alex Pereira was convinced that Strickland would take the belt from Adesanya

• UFC

Sean Strickland (27-5 MMA, 14-5 UFC) caused great excitement and disbelief when he defeated Israel Adesanya (24-2 MMA, 13-2 UFC) by unanimous decision last Saturday at UFC 293 in Sydney. Stirckland took the belt from the now former champion Adesanya.

Alex Pereira talked on his YouTube channel about his friendship with Strickland. He talked about training together but said that he does not believe that this is the reason for Sean's big victory. He is certainly happy about that, first of all because they are not direct competitors now because Alex Pereira has moved to the heavyweight division of the UFC.

Alex Pereira : I was so sure Sean Strickland was going to win

“I noticed in the comments (of a past video) that a lot of you guys were saying that I was backing Sean Strickland just because we’re buddies now, because I trained with him so naturally I got to support him,” Pereira said on his YouTube channel.

“I couldn’t separate my personal feelings from business. But here’s what I told you guys: I spent a few days training with Sean Strickland, and I got to see how talented he is, strategies, how tough he is.

I got a better understanding of this from training than from actually fighting him. “It was totally different because anyone who trains, who fights, knows how it is. … That’s why I was so sure he was going to win.

Another thing, there are so many people saying, ‘Oh, Sean Strickland trained with Pereira, and that’s why he won.’ But hey, let me clarify: I had nothing to do with it, OK? He won on his own. It’s totally his success because he’s such a dedicated guy with a unique style, and he really showed us what he’s got in his fight with Adesanya.

So, the credit is all his. I had nothing to do with it despite the days he spent training with me”. as quoted by MMAJunkie.