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Israel Adesanya's coach Eugene Bareman believes Sean Strickland will benefit in their UFC 293 fight from having already faced Alex Pereira.
Adesanya is set to defend his middleweight title against Strickland in the UFC 293 headliner taking place Sept. 9 in Sydney, Australia. Although it's not the most exciting fight for most observers — given that they feel Strickland is all but guaranteed to lose — Bareman is not taking that approach by any means.
Instead, he's giving Strickland the maximum respect he deserves as he believes the American has some unique gifts when it comes to fighting.
“History proves if you start to take that attitude, these are the fights that come up and bite you in the ass,” Bareman told Submission Radio. “Real champions, real people who are the best in the world, they’re the best in the world because every time they step up to the plate and fight for that championship belt, they prepare themselves accordingly no matter who the opponent is. And that’s what we do.
“I give him the maximum respect that you have to give someone who's one of the top ten fighters in the world in their weight division. He has a very unique fighting style and some very unique gifts, and that's what you have to have when you're starting to separate yourself from the pack when you're in the top ten. He has some unique gifts and some of the unique talents that we have to take care of, and I give him full respect. I give him full respect.”
Bareman also believes Sean Strickland has some advantages going into the fight.
For one, he has some momentum as he's on a two-fight winning streak. But more than anything, Strickland has already faced — and been knocked out by — a similar high-level fighter in Alex Pereira when they fought at UFC 276 last year.
To make matters more interesting, Strickland has been training with Pereira since their fight. Given all that experience, Bareman expects Strickland to be more disciplined and ultimately fare better against Adesanya.
“He’s coming off good form and good momentum, and there’s a lot to be said about that,” Bareman added. “And that makes a very dangerous fighter, coming off the back of two very good wins. … Look, at the end of the day, to be honest, I think the Pereira fight helped him a lot. I think he has to understand that the caliber of opposition that he's entering the cage with.
“When you jump in the cage with these guys like Pereira and these Israel Adesanyas, that had 100 fights at the highest level. If you're just looking at their UFC record and you're just taking that into account and you're not giving their abilities and their experience the full respect it deserves, like he perhaps did with Pereira, I think then you're going to end up in a world of hurt.
“I think the best thing for Sean was going through that Pereira fight. Because I expect him to be a lot more disciplined against Israel, just because he's gonna have more respect for the experience and the skillset.”
