Alex Pereira quickly made Sean Strickland regret his decision to try to strike with him in the opening round of their fight at UFC 276 tonight when he knocked him out with two powerful strikes.
Round One:
Leg kick for Pereira and now one to the body. Strickland marching forward and Pereira feels out with the jab. Body kick from Strickland.
Leg kick from Pereira. Body kick from him now. He lands a punch. Jab from Strickland as he continues to press forward.
Right hand and then a body punch from Pereira, followed by a leg kick. A couple of jabs from Strickland now. Leg kick for Pereira.
Right hand gets through for Pereira. Now back to leg kicks. Huge left hook from Pereira drops Strickland to his knees and as he looks to get back up quickly Pereira greets him with a perfectly placed right hand to sit him straight back down again for a major KO victory at 2.36mins of the first round.
Strickland attempted to get back to his feet afterwards but staggers against the cage and it’s clear this was a good stoppage. He played with fire standing in front of the kickboxing star and paid the price, with his six-fight winning streak coming to an abrupt end.
As for Pereira, a highlight-reel victory like that only adds further weight to the possibility of a fast-track towards a title showdown with middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, who has beaten twice before in the kickboxing ring.
