Sean Strickland has plenty of backup in his corner when he faces Dricus du Plessis in a rematch with the middleweight title on the line at UFC 312.
In addition to his regular crew of coaches, which includes head corner Eric Nicksick, Strickland will receive some extra advice from UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.
The Brazilian is set to corner Strickland for his fight against du Plessis after they actually fought back in 2022. Since then, Pereira and Strickland have trained together and become friends while also no longer competing in the same weight class.
Pereira is expected to serve as the fourth coach in Strickland’s corner per Nicksick, who confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Tuesday after initially revealing his plans to The Schmo on YouTube.
Strickland is attempting to reclaim the middleweight title after he lost the belt to du Plessis back in January 2024 in a razor close decision. Since that time, Strickland went onto beat perennial contender Paulo Costa to put himself in a position to get another shot at the belt.
Meanwhile, du Plessis vanquished longtime foe Israel Adesanya with an impressive submission victory this past August in his first title defense.
Following his win over Adesanya last year, du Plessis actually welcomed a future fight against Pereira after he posted a photo on Instagram saying he was interested in returning to middleweight for at least one more appearance to take on the new champion from South Africa.
The fighters exchanged a few more words over social media and through interviews but an actual bout between them never came to fruition.
Instead, du Plessis can just look across the octagon on Feb. 8 when he’s facing Strickland and he’ll see Pereira staring right back at him.
