- UFC 276 odds are favoring Alex Pereira -175 against Sean Strickland +150.
- Pereira joined the UFC in 2021 and has back-to-back wins over Andreas Michailidis and Bruno Silva.
- Strickland is on a five-fight winning streak with his last win over Jack Hermansson.
The UFC is fast-tracking Alex Pereira towards a title shot against former foe Israel Adesanya. Pereira is infamous for being the only fighter to knockout Adesanya, during a kickboxing bout back in 2017 prior to joining the UFC.
Sean Strickland is also on an upward trajectory at 185 pounds with the winner here one more fight away from a title shot. We review the latest UFC 276 odds for Strickland vs Pereira Odds below.
Strickland vs Pereira Odds
| Fighter | Odds |
| Sean Strickland | +150 |
| Alex Pereira | -175 |
The opening UFC odds are favoring Pereira as a -175 favorite, giving “Poatan” an implied win probability of 63.6% for the 34-year-old who arrived at the UFC later in his career. Meanwhile, the always overlooked and highly underrated Sean Strickland is a +150 underdog (bet $100, net $150).
Check with your local online sportsbooks for UFC odds over the coming weeks.
Betting on Strickland vs Pereira
For Alex Pereira’s debut at UFC 268, he opened as a -150 favorite over Andreas Michailidis, that betting line closed closer to -300 by the fight night. The win for Pereira came in the 2nd round by flying knee in front of a New York crowd. This fight set Pereira up for his second UFC bout, against Bruno Silva (22-7), this was a better test for Pereira who went the distance, for the first time in his short MMA run thus far.
Coming from a strict kickboxing background, Alex Pereira holds an impressive kickboxing record of 33 wins (21 KOs) and 7 losses. He only has five MMA bouts under his belt and holds a record of 5-1. With such a thin MMA resume, there should be lots of question marks around Pereira’s ground game and wrestling ability against the UFC elite. However, middleweight isn’t exactly the division where those concerns are an issue. Especially when you have all predominantly strikers in the top five at 185-pounds.
Strickland should be more widely known for his achievements in the UFC than people think, with the five-win sequence he’s been putting together over the past couple of years. That being said, it’s smart for the UFC to match Pereira up with Strickland, as he has the least threat of going for a takedown when compared to Derek Burnson, Hermansson, or Vettori at 185 pounds.
Overall, Pereira poses a real threat to Strickland and I see the odds shifting in the Brazilians’ favor by -250 at least come UFC 277.
Strickland Respects New UFC Blood
Many people are shocked by the fact that the UFC selected Alex Pereira versus Sean Strickland. Pereira is celebrated for his two victories over Israel Adesanya in Glory Kickboxing.
“The fucking guy knocked out Izzy. The guy’s a fucking savage,” UFC middleweight Strickland said in an interview on Helen Yee Sports.
“I actually kind of enjoy, and I’ll tell you why. (Paulo) Costa, to me, is an easy paycheck. All my last fights, all great men, all solid fucking dudes. But walking into those fights, you’re kind of just like, ‘I’m better than you, I’m better than you, I’m better than you.’ “With Alex, it’s kind of like this scary thing. It kind of gets me excited. You see him, you’re like, ‘Oh man, you’re a big, scary-looking kickboxer, I want to fight you.’ So I do like the fact that he does have that unknown factor – new blood.”
Sean Strickland thinks the winner of this bout has the next opportunity to take on the division champion of Israel Adesanya. Marvin Vettori and Robert Whittaker are currently opponents that the champion has defeated, although both have suffered defeats previously.
Leave a comment below on how you think this fight will play out?
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