It appears Alex Pereira could have added motivation to corner Sean Strickland at UFC 312.

Strickland (29-6 MMA, 16-6 UFC) challenges middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) in a title-fight rematch, which headlines Saturday’s event at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN2, ESPN+).

Strickland revealed that Pereira isn’t too big of a fan of Du Plessis.

“I think Alex is an angry motherf*cker,” Strickland said in an interview with UFC News. “Like Alex is angry and for some reason dude he hates Dricus. Like I don’t know what you did to him, but he f*cking hates you dude. so, it’s like the way he looks at Dricus sometimes I’m like, ‘Dude, I’m fighting him dawg, like it’s me dude.’ But yeah no, Alex, he just has that hate in his heart, and he’s a good dude so, he’s out there, I was like, ‘Let’s come on, let’s get it in.'”

Pereira and Du Plessis have angled to fight each other in the past, with both fighters willing to move weight classes to make it happen. Du Plessis recently praised “Poatan,” but also has plans of becoming a two-weight UFC champion like him down the line.

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