UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira doesn’t see the point in fighting Khamzat Chimaev.
‘Poatan’ just made his return to the cage against Jiri Prochazka at UFC 295 in early November. Alex Pereira scored a second-round knockout victory over ‘Denisa’. In the process, the Brazilian became champion of less than 93 kilos and quickly considered a potential trilogy with Israel Adesanya.
Khamzat Chimaev is rising steadily and is just one-two steps away from becoming the middleweight champion of the world. According to Chimaev, he is ready to fight anyone in any weight division; however, he has been given the impression of not accepting fights and simply hyping up situations.
Periera recently pleaded the same thing after Chimaev called him out to fight for the light heavyweight belt.
Chimaev last fought against Kamaru Usman; he was expected to face Sean Strickland next; however, the UFC decided to make Dricus Du Plessis the title challenger as he earned his spot by securing a win against Robert Whittaker.
Alex Pereira already had a bad experience with Chimaev’s previous call out due to which he isn’t interested in entertaining a match with him.
However, he was challenged by Khamzat Chimaev. Borz has been confident since his return and unanimous decision victory over Kamaru Usman at UFC 294 in October. While the Chechen was hoping to get a title shot against Sean Strickland at middleweight, he now takes on Alex Pereira at 205 pounds.
Alex Pereira is fed up with Khamzat Chimaev.. However, Alex Pereira doesn’t believe this fight makes much sense. On his YouTube channel, the Brazilian was asked about the recent provocation by Khamzat Chimaev. He admitted that they were in talks for a fight earlier this year… But that it didn’t make sense for them to face each other now.
“Actually, it all started after the Adesanya fight, when I became middleweight champion,” Pereira said on his YouTube channel through an interpreter. “It was a war with Adesanya. I was injured after the fight and Chimaev called me directly, he wanted to fight me, take my belt, etc. I said, “Okay, that’s fine. Let’s fight at light heavyweight” (h/t MMAJunkie).
And to continue: “He refused. He didn’t want to fight me in light heavyweight… And now that I’m champion in this category, he calls me. This shows that these kinds of fighters try to hide behind the hype and fame of champions, and that doesn’t make sense. Now what should I do? Call him to order or what? So it makes no sense.”
