UFC 276: Alex Pereira vs Sean Strickland Picks, Predictions, Odds

Sean Strickland and Alex Pereira fight Saturday in UFC 276 at T-Mobile Arena. Strickland enters this fight with a 25-3 record and has won 44 percent of his fights by decision. Pereira enters this fight with a 5-1 record and has won 80 percent of his fights by knockout.

Strickland has won 6 straight fights and is coming off a February win over Jack Hermansson. Strickland is averaging 5.53 significant strikes per minute, with an accuracy percentage of 40 percent. Strickland is averaging 1.16 takedowns with an accuracy percentage of 61 percent. Strickland is coming off a decision win at UFC Fight Night 200 where he landed 161 total strikes and 46 percent of his significant strikes. Strickland is now 12-3 under the UFC banner and hasn’t lost since UFC 224. Strickland is 31 years old and a brown belt in BJJ. Strickland has seen 4 of his last 5 fights go the distance. He’s a successful takedown artist, defends takedowns well, and has never been submitted in his career. Strickland is a balanced fighter who lands a good deal of his strikes and has produced 10 career knockouts. This will be Strickland’s 10th career fight in Nevada.

Pereira has won five straight fights and is coming off a March win over Bruno Silva. Pereira is averaging 5.86 significant strikes per minute, with an accuracy percentage of 60 percent. Pereira is averaging 0.00 takedowns with an accuracy percentage of 0 percent. Pereira is coming off a decision win at UFC Fight Night 203 where he landed 165 total strikes and 60 percent of his significant strikes. Pereira is now 2-0 under the UFC banner and hasn’t lost since his pro debut in 2015. Pereira is nearly 35 years old, comes from a deep kickboxing and boxing background, and has shown he can get the job done in MMA. Pereira has just 3 MMA fights since 2016 and 2 of those bouts were knockouts. A creative striker who is nice with his legs, Pereira is dangerous on his feet and has a good takedown defense as well. It’s rather impressive to see Pereira adapt to new rules under such a short time, and it will be fun to see where he goes. This will be Pereira’s second career fight in Nevada.

Strickland is worth a look as a slight favorite because of his experience edge, he’s proven more on the MMA side, and he has the striking to get the job done here. Strickland has also shown more on the canvas. With that said, Pereira is the more creative, polished striker, and he has a decent size advantage as well. Assuming this fight ends up on the feet, I’d have to give a decorated kickboxer in Pereira the edge. I’m impressed by what I’ve seen from Pereira in a short span.

Give me Pereira and the plus money.