Alex Pereira wouldn’t let Khamzat Chimaev’s words go unanswered.
Chimaev Called Out Pereira
Although they’re one weight class apart, Chimaev would make an interesting call-out of Pereira following his knockout of Sean Strickland. The Chechen superstar sent a message to Dana White, asking for a fight with the next middleweight title challenger.
I’m want to fight with this guy @ufc @danawhite let’s make it 👊🏼💥 https://t.co/ao2fKbLCqq
— Khamzat Chimaev (@KChimaev) July 3, 2022
Pereira Reacts
For Pereira, Chimaev’s plea simply didn’t make any sense to him.
“Look at this guy,” Pereira said of Chimaev’s tweet (via MMA Fighting). “I’m going to fight for the belt, it’s guaranteed. He wants attention. ‘Oh, I wanna fight this guy.’ He knows I’m the next contender and he still says something like that. I’d like to see [what he would do] if Dana White came out and said, ‘Alex, your shot at Adesanya is guaranteed but he wants some time to prepare, so fight this guy first because he wants to fight you. Your title shot is still guaranteed.’ Let’s see what he would say.
“[Chimaev] wants attention because he knows it doesn’t make sense. I’m going to go back and fight him when I’m already guaranteed for the belt? He wants attention, but he’ll have to take a number and go back to the line.”
Unfortunately for Chimaev, Pereira isn’t biting on the bait to fight him. Instead, Chimaev has been marked by the Brazilian as an attention-seeking coward.
“These guys wanna make a name for themselves [by talking],” Pereira continued. “If I wasn’t going to fight for the belt already and he said something like that, hats off to him. But the way he’s doing it, he’s a coward. He’s a coward seeking attention.”
