Newly crowned UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira will not be fighting Khamzat Chimaev next.
In his most recent outing at UFC 295, Pereira secured the 205-pound title by knocking out Jiri Prochazka in the second round. Seconds after his monumental victory, ‘Po Atan’ called out old foe Israel Adesanya to a trilogy at light heavyweight.
Pereira and Adesanya have fought four times in total; twice in kickboxing and MMA, with the Brazilian having the upper hand with three wins.
While Adesanya doesn’t seem interested in fighting Pereira again, Chimaev is more than happy to move a division up and fight for the belt.
Pereira doesn’t seem interested at all.
“So actually, everything started after the Adesanya fight when I became the middleweight champion,” Pereira said on his YouTube channel. “It was a war with Adesanya. I was injured after the fight, and Chimaev directly called me out, wanted to fight against me, take my belt, and whatever. I said, ‘OK, that’s fine. Let’s fight at light heavyweight.’
“He denied. He didn’t want to fight me at light heavyweight and afterwards, now I’m the champ at light heavyweight, and he calls me out at light heavyweight. So, this only shows that these type of fighters are trying to run behind the hype and the fame of the champions, and it doesn’t make sense. Now I have to do what? Call him out at heavyweight or what? So, it doesn’t make sense.”
Would you like to see a potential matchup between Alex Pereira and Khamzat Chimaev?
