The last man to beat Alex Pereira in kickboxing is now a UFC fighter.
On Tuesday’s episode of Dana White’s Contender Series, former GLORY Kickboxing champion Artem Vakhitov earned a contract via a first-round TKO against Islem Masraf.
PURE POWER 🤯
Artem Vakhitov earns the first round TKO on #DWCS! pic.twitter.com/3KIX5i6jRJ
— UFC (@ufc) October 9, 2024
Vakhitov, who competes in the light heavyweight division, has a long history with Pereira, having competed against him in back-to-back bouts under the GLORY banner in 2021. ‘Poatan’ earned a split decision win over Vakhitov at GLORY 77, but Vakhitov evened the series later that same year at GLORY 78, scoring a majority decision win against Pereira.
Two months later, Pereira made his UFC debut and the rest is history.
Pereira was backstage during Tuesday’s episode of DWCS and shared a heartwarming moment with his former kickboxing foe.
“To be honest, I’m very happy to see you winning,” Vakhitov told Pereira through a pair of translators. “I love what’s happening with you right now over here. So just keep doing it, keep winning, I’ll be watching this. I’ll be focused on myself. Hopefully after a few more [title] defenses, it will happen so that we’ll meet each other again. Nothing but respect. All love and it’s just sports. That’s all it is.”
“You owe me one,” Pereira replied.
Alex Pereira Helps Convince Dana White to Sign Vakhitov
During the Contender Series press conference, Dana White revealed that Pereira was backstage talking up Vakhitov to the UFC CEO.
“I’ve been back there talking to Alex this whole time,” White told reporters. “He said, ‘This is what I think. I think he’s talented enough. I think he deserves to be here.’ Which is what I thought, too, going in. He said, ‘I think that the Contender Series, no matter where you’ve fought or what you’ve done, puts a different type of pressure on you, and you might not perform the way you normally would.’
“He thinks that this is a tremendous amount of pressure. He said, ‘All I know is I’m glad I never had to go through the Contender Series.’”
Now we know why Vakhitov owes him one.
Vakhitov suffered an opening-minute loss in his mixed martial arts debut last year due to injury but has since earned three straight first-round KOs, including his win against Masraf in Las Vegas.
Watch the full DWCS press conference below:
