Eric Nicksick is hoping Sean Strickland can avoid a rematch with fellow UFC star Alex Pereira.
Strickland faced Pereira in a middleweight fight in 2022 and suffered a brutal first-round knockout loss at the hands of the burly Brazilian.
Pereira, a former two-pision Glory kickboxing champion, went on to win the UFC middleweight title and later the light heavyweight title, which he still holds.
Today, he is considered one of the most feared knockout artists in all of MMA, a reputation earned, in part, through his knockout victory over Strickland.
Strickland is still competing in the middleweight pision, so a rematch with Pereira currently seems unlikely, but the Brazilian has recently expressed interest in returning to the middleweight pision, in which case a second meeting between the two is entirely possible.
Nicksick, who serves as Strickland’s head trainer at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, hopes it doesn’t come to that.
“That’s a nightmare,” Nicksick said. Submission radius“It’s a nightmare to relive all that again. Stay up there at 205 [pounds] Man, do your thing up there.
“We’re ok.”
The good news for Nicksick and Strickland is that Pereira is currently scheduled for a light heavyweight title defense against Khalil Rountree at UFC 307, and will most likely defend his title against top contender Magomed Ankalaev after that. That means a return to middleweight is unlikely for the time being. Pereira has also hinted at a move up to heavyweight, which would seemingly rule out the 37-year-old returning to middleweight for good.
Like Pereira, Strickland is a former middleweight champion. He won the title with a shock decision win over Israel Adesanya last year but lost it in his first defense, suffering a controversial decision loss to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 in January.
Strickland has since rebounded with a decision win over Paulo Costa, and is now expected to be next in line for a shot at Du Plessis.
