A. Poatan (left) faces S. Strickland (right) in the UFC 276. Photo: SUPER FIGHTS montage
The long awaited return of Alex Poatán to the octagon after the victory over Bruno Blindado will happen sooner than expected. The duel between the Brazilian and Sean Strickland, previously scheduled for the UFC 277, on July 30th, was rescheduled for July 2nd, at UFC 276, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The event marks the traditional International Fight Week. The information about the fight being brought forward was initially confirmed by the North American website “MMA Junkie”.
According to alleged information leaks from the Ultimate office: UFC 276 must be captained by the middleweight belt dispute (up to 83,9 kg) between the champion Israel adesanya, victim of Poatan in his kickboxing and Jared Cannonier, second in the ranking. Furthermore, the event should feature the unlikely duel between Khamzat Shimaev e Nate diaz, in the welterweight division (up to 77 kg).
With two fights and two victories in the UFC Octagon, Alex Poatán is not yet in the top 15 of the middleweight division, but enjoys prestige within the organization and is seen as a strong candidate to challenge Israel adesanya for the title in the near future. This is due to the Brazilian's history in kickboxing, a sport in which he made history as GLORY champion, including defeating the Nigerian, current owner of the Ultimate middleweight belt, on two occasions.
On the other side, Sean Strickland is fourth in the division rankings. The 31-year-old American is on a six-fight win streak, the last five at middleweight. In his last performance, he surpassed Jack hermansson by split decision in February.
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