If Sean Strickland wants his middleweight title back, he will have to wrest it off of Dricus Du Plessis at their UFC 312 rematch next weekend. This would not be an easy task given the absolute nightmare that is ‘DDP.’ Thankfully, ‘Tarzan’ will have some very able help in the rematch.

After all, light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira, with his brilliant MMA mind, is going to be cornering Strickland on the Australia card and will no doubt give Strickland some good advice on beating ‘DDP.’ Or will he? Du Plessis doesn’t think so and for very good reasons.

“What do you make of the light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira being in the challenger’s corner on Saturday?” interviewer Shakiel Mahjouri asked Du Plessis in a recent interview. To which the South African had a hilarious response.

“He [Alex Pereira] was in the corner [of Sean Strickland] in the first fight too. I mean they don’t even speak the same language, it doesn’t really make it much of a difference whether he’s in the corner or not. Strickland can barely understand his own coach, and he’s also American, how’s he going to understand Alex Pereira?” ‘DDP’ said, laughing.

Indeed, Pereira, even after almost half a decade in the UFC, barely speaks any English, which means that ‘Poatan’ wouldn’t even be able to share any advice or insights he has with Strickland during the fight. Or so it seems at first glance. Maybe Pereira is in Strickland’s corner only for moral support and not really to give advice.

Of course, Strickland and Pereira became good friends after their UFC 276 fight, where the Brazilian knocked out ‘Tarzan’ in the very first round. Strickland, wanting to get better and recognizing Pereira’s brilliance, enlisted the Brazilian’s help to do so, the duo have been known to train together.

‘Poatan’ even helped Strickland prepare for his title shot against Israel Adesanya, which the American shockingly won. However, it does seem Pereira won’t be able to do much good for Strickland in his corner, which is a shame since Du Plessis is almost definitely going to be very motivated to win the fight, given what will likely follow after.

Khamzat Chimaev next for Dricus Du Plessis if he beats Strickland

If Dricus Du Plessis beats Sean Strickland at UFC 312, he will have proven once and for all who the better fighter is. And then he will have the chance to become the biggest star in the promotion and overtake Alex Pereira as the face of the promotion. How? Well, Dana White has all but confirmed that Khamzat Chimaev is next in line for a middleweight title shot.

The same Chimaev, who is undoubtedly the most hyped fighter in the promotion, is undefeated and looks nigh unstoppable. If ‘DDP’ manages to beat Chimaev and take his ‘O,’ his popularity will explode even more. And Du Plessis does have all the tools and the sheer strength of will to be able to do that.

After all, the South African has a pretty good ground game- maybe not at Chimaev’s level- but certainly enough to give ‘Borz’ problems on the ground. In addition, the champ’s spastic, offense-followed-by-offense-followed-by-offense fighting style will likely be a nightmare for the Chechnya native, especially on the ground. What do you think about Dricus Du Plessis laughing off Alex Pereira’s presence in Strickland’s UFC 312 corner?