"I was scared. But when I heard him speak, I relaxed a little. He is a good, experienced fighter. But he said some things that didn't make any sense. After the fight was scheduled, for several months I had fear. But he was in control. But I'll tell you when I was most afraid. This is when he entered the octagon and started looking at me, he had never looked at me like that before. That's when I got scared."
Recall that Pereira knocked out Strickland in the first round at UFC 276.
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Chimaev realizes that Pereira can knock him out