- Former GLORY kickboxing champ Artem Vakhitov calls Alex Pereira out for a trilogy match at UFC
- “Poatan” seems to be disinterested in the idea
A former kickboxing rival recently came out to settle the score with Alex Pereira in a trilogy match in the UFC.
Alex has a weakness
Speaking to MMA Fighting, Artem Vakhitov expressed his deep interest to take on Pereira for the third time. According to Vakhitov, it’s about time for the MMA world to recognize him as the fighter who could expose the light heavyweight champion’s “biggest weakness.”
Vakhitov backs his claim by insisting he was able to outmatch “Poatan” during their second title fight at GLORY kickboxing back in 2021. He lost to the Brazilian in the first match and avenged his defeat in the rematch.
“MMA was always interesting for me anyway, but obviously I am very motivated by the prospect of getting that trilogy match with Pereira,” Vakhitov said. “He’s a superstar now and I am happy for him, but when I hear people saying he’s the best striker in the world … well, I think it’s time for MMA fans to learn about me and my team, put it that way.”
“His biggest weakness is that he is all attack, he has no defense,” he pointed out. “Because of his lack of defense, he is open to taking a lot of punches to the head if he’s facing a skilled striker. You saw that in his second fight with Adesanya. He got caught because he leaves a lot of openings for people who know what they are doing.
“These other guys haven’t done well against Alex because their striking isn’t at a high enough level. They aren’t confident against him and they think he’s unbeatable, so in their heart they are already defeated before the fight starts. But I have beaten him before in pure striking competition, and I am sure I’ll do it again if we can get our trilogy match in the UFC,” he added.
Alex’s response
As expected, Vakhitov’s callout did not go unnoticed. Pereira responded on social media and stated that Vakhitov only got the decision win because GLORY didn’t want him to leave the promotion as a champion.
“Everybody knows that when they gave you the win it’s because Glory knew that that would be my last fight in the organization and they didn’t want me to leave with the belt! For you to expose yourself like this, it seems that you’re a bit lost and almost certainly don’t have a manager,” Pereira said.
https://x.com/ChampRDS/status/1810434181677170723
Judging by how Pereira fired back at Vakhitov, it appears that the reigning UFC light heavyweight champ isn’t open to the idea. That said, “Poatan” may just stay focused on defending his title or moving up to heavyweight amid his looming potential showdown with Jon Jones.
