MMA Knockout

Kickboxer Who Beat Alex Pereira Is Chasing Him to the UFC

Artem Vakhitov is one impressive win away from earning a UFC contract while chasing Alex Pereira for a rematch in MMA.

Zain Bando

GLORY Kickboxing

Light heavyweight prospect Artem Vakhitov (2-1 MMA) is one win away from realizing his dream of becoming a UFC fighter. Vakhitov faces Islem Masraf Tuesday night on DWCS Week 8 in the main event opposite Islem Masraf (3-0 MMA) at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas.

If he were to win by finish and in devastating fashion, Vakhitov, 33, wants another crack at UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira at some point during his Octagon stint. The former GLORY kickboxer competed against Pereira in back-to-back fights, splitting both. The victory against Pereira was right before the Brazilian made his UFC transition.

Alex Pereira Artem Vakhitov
Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Pereira doubts Vakhitov can recreate the same storyline as he did with Adesanya.

UFC 307: Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree Card, TV Channel, Start Time, Odds

"Guys that beat me in a fight long ago, they think that they can just come here... but they are not me," Pereira said at the UFC 307 media day.

Vakhitov said if Pereira isn't careful with his potential plans to move to middleweight, he wants to meet in a trilogy fight. He described Pereira as "genuinely worried" about his career trajectory if things don't pan out correctly.

"Recently he was talking about returning to middleweight and I joked to a journalist that I didn't want him to run away to another weight class before I can get to him for our trilogy fight," Vakhitov said.

UFC 307 Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree Best Bets & Full Odds

Vakhitov was critical of Pereira's comments, given his meteoric rise to the top of MMA thus far.

"Alex has a high opinion of himself and rightly so - he has achieved incredible things. But so have I - for many years I was the undisputed world champion in my weight class and I've previously beaten Alex, so it's strange to me to hear him speaking so dismissively about me." 

All in all, Vakhitov said he is excited to potentially compete at the highest level of the sport, with the goal of meeting Pereira. He is picking the Brazilian to finish Khalil Rountree, but did not put it past Rountree to pull off the upset.

"Next week, on Tuesday, I'll fight on Dana White's Contender Series," Vakhitov said."That's where all my focus is right now. I have to win that fight in order to enter the UFC light heavyweight division. So we will find out on Tuesday night whether Alex and I are set to be colleagues once again. I hope so, because we have a score to settle."

UFC 307 Results: Alex Pereira vs. Rountree Live Highlights & Updates

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Zain Bando
ZAIN BANDO

Zain Bando is a writer for MMA Knockout, part of the Sports Illustrated/Minute Media umbrella. He has covered combat sports since 2019 for notable outlets BJPenn.com and FanSided MMA. He also co-hosts a podcast called "The MMA Outsiders," part of the Empty The Bench Podcast Network, which airs Tuesday nights at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT. A Chicago suburban native, Bando has been enthralled with MMA since 2006 and has been fortunate to attend some of the most high-profile events in the sport's history, both as a fan and media member, including UFC 264, Bellator 297 and Kayla Harrison's PFL MMA debut. He is excited to take the next step in his combat sports writing journey and looks forward to continuing his following of the fight game for years to come. Bando can be reached via email at zainbando99@gmail.com or by social media @zainbando99

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