Alex Pereira, the skilled and experienced middleweight fighter, is not one to hold grudges with his former opponents, even those who have used obscenities against him. In fact, he plans to host Sean Strickland, his former octagon foe, in Connecticut for a week to train with him in advance of his upcoming fight against Abusupiyan Magomedov.

Strickland has been identified as a future contender for the middleweight champ, Israel Adesanya, who Pereira has faced four times in kickboxing and MMA, making him his closest rival. Pereira is in a good position to advise Strickland on his chances of winning a title shot, but he is honest about how difficult it would be for anyone in the current class to do so right now.

Pereira would have welcomed a trilogy MMA fight with Adesanya after knocking him out in their UFC 281 meeting, but instead booked a fight against former light heavyweight champ, Jan Blachowicz, at UFC 291 after returning the title in a rematch at UFC 287. Pereira’s easygoing attitude towards Adesanya could be seen the other day when they ran into each other several times at the airport while going through security.

They even pitched some content ideas to entertain MMA fans, a wholesome run-in for two former opponents. Pereira still thinks they’ll fight again one day, but he needed a break from constantly making weight, although he can make 185 pounds anytime he wants. His move to the light heavyweight division is not keeping him up at night, as he moves on to the next challenge.