Following media requests for a response to feedback made by Alex Pereira yesterday concerning Artem Vakhitov‘s journey to the UFC (“Guys that beat me in a battle way back, they assume that they will simply come right here… however they aren’t me!”) Vakhitov has supplied the next remarks:
“Alex has a excessive opinion of himself and rightly so – he has achieved unimaginable issues. However so have I – for a few years I used to be the undisputed world champion in my weight class and I’ve beforehand overwhelmed Alex, so it’s unusual to me to listen to him talking so dismissively about me.
“In fact MMA is a distinct sport to kickboxing, however he’s not the one one able to making the transition.
“Not too long ago he was speaking about returning to middleweight and I joked to a journalist that I didn’t need him to run away to a different weight class earlier than I can get to him for our trilogy battle.
“However now the way in which he’s speaking, I’m questioning if he’s genuinely fearful. Lately I’ve at all times wished him good luck and victory when he has fought. I believed perhaps he would want the identical to me, nevertheless it appears not.
“He’s obtained Khalil Rountree this weekend and that’s a tricky battle. I count on Alex to come back by way of it, however Alex does go away himself open and Khalil is highly effective. He can completely win by knockout. We’ve seen Alex knocked out earlier than.
“Subsequent week, on Tuesday, I’ll battle on Dana White’s Contender Sequence. That’s the place all my focus is true now. I’ve to win that battle with the intention to enter the UFC mild heavyweight division. So we are going to discover out on Tuesday night time whether or not Alex and I are set to be colleagues as soon as once more. I hope so, as a result of we’ve a rating to settle.”
Vakhitov – winner of seven GLORY world title bouts – and Pereira are 1-1 in opposition to one another from their time in GLORY Kickboxing, with each fights being for the world light-heavyweight championship.
On Tuesday 10/8, Vakhitov competes on Dana White’s Contender Sequence. If victorious, he’ll enter the UFC ranks. Coincidentally, a win would see him enter the UFC with a 3-1 MMA file – the very same file Pereira joined the group with.
Roberto Villa is the CEO, Founder, Government Author, Senior Editor of FightBook MMA. Has a ardour for Fight Sports activities and likewise a podcast host for Sitting Ringside. He’s additionally a former MMA fighter and Kickboxer.
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