The rivalry between Artem Vakhitov and Alex Pereira is intensifying as Vakhitov challenges Pereira to a UFC bout, claiming he has already defeated him twice in kickboxing, while Pereira disputes the legitimacy of those victories.
The Artem Vakhitov-Alex Pereira feud is heating up.
Vakhitov’s comments on Pereira’s UFC success did not sit well with the Brazilian. He offered him a piece of advice regarding a potential jump to the octagon in pursuit of a trilogy bout with “Poatan”. Now, Vakhitov has doubled down on his challenge.
“It’s been great to see your success and I wish you even more success in future,” Vakhitov told MMA Fighting. “But I am sure you can understand that for me it’s strange to be always reading about ‘the best striker on the planet’ when in my opinion I beat this person twice already. I would like to settle the issue in the UFC octagon.”
The beef started when Vakhitov told MMA Fighting that although he was happy for Pereira’s success in MMA, he lacked defense as a kickboxer. Vakhitov said he hoped to meet the Brazilian a third time, now in the UFC, to “demonstrate finally who is the best striker.”
In their first match in January 2021, Pereira won a split decision to unify the GLORY light heavyweight titles and become a two division champion in kickboxing. But he departed from the sport shortly after dropping a majority decision to Vakhitov in the rematch eight months later. Pereira went on to join the UFC and become a two-division titleholder again.
Pereira took to social media to fire back at Vakhitov, advising him to “be careful with the people that are giving you this idea” because he believes their 1-1 score inside the GLORY ring is deceiving. He added, “everybody knows that when they gave you the win [in GLORY in 2021] it’s because GLORY knew that that would be my last fight in the organization and they didn’t want me to leave with the belt.”
“Nobody gave me any wins comrade,” Vakhitov responded. “In my opinion I am 2-0 against you — if anyone is to talk about someone being ‘given’ wins then they can go back and watch our first fight in GLORY and please try and explain to me what the judges were thinking, because I won that fight clearly.”
Pereira wrote that Vakhitov seemed “a bit lost” and suggested he contact his manager Jorge Guimarães for career advice.
“I am neither lost nor confused brother — I know my path and you are on it,” Vakhitov responded. “I’ve been guided from day one by my manager Andrej Busygin and he’s with me every step of the way as we start this next journey. Until we meet again…”
Watch both kickboxing matches between Pereira and Vakhitov below.