Vakhitov Dismisses Pereira’s Criticism: “I’m 2-0 Against You!”

The war of words between UFC light-heavyweight champion Alex Pereira and bitter rival Artem Vakhitov continued today asthe Siberian standout shot back at comments Pereira made at the beginning of the week.

On Monday, Pereira took to Instagram to tell Vakhitov it would be “a mistake” for the Russian to pursue their trilogy match under the UFC banner. He also claimed Vakhitov had been “given” a win in their GLORY Kickboxing series, where they went 1-1 against each other. 

Vakhitov responded today, Wednesday July 10:

“I wasn’t given a win by anybody. In fact I think I won both of our fights. I invite anyone to go and watch our first fight and explain to me how the judges scored that one for you. But no hard feelings – the record shows we are 1-1 against each other and we need a decider, so let’s settle this trilogy in the UFC Octagon.

“Alex Pereira is a great fighter, no doubt about it, but of course I cannot agree when I see him described now as ‘the best striker on the planet’. As far as I am concerned, I have beaten him twice! I know a lot of UFC fans aren’t yet familiar with me or my achievements, but I aim to change that very soon and let everyone see what I can do.

“Alex was also kind enough to suggest that I sign with his manager. But I have to say no thanks – I’ve been managed from day one by Andrej Busygin and I’ve been trained by Vitaly Miller at Kuzbass Muay Thai, and it’s going to stay that way. We’re proud to put the Kuzbass region on the map for fight fans around the world and in the near future I am sure I will have the biggest stage yet on which to do that.”

Vakhitov and Pereira met twice during their GLORY tenure, where Vakhitov won seven light-heavyweight championship fights and Pereira was at one time both middleweight and light-heavyweight champion. 

Their first fight ended in a controversial decision win for Pereira, making him light-heavyweight champion, while their second fight went to Vakhitov by decision and returned the GLORY light-heavyweight championship belt to him. 

Vakhitov is now 2-1 in MMA, with the loss coming by way of freak injury when his elbow randomly dislocated during a ground-and-pound barrage he was delivering 56 seconds into his MMA debut. 

Pereira signed to the UFC with a 3-1 record – having also lost his MMA debut – and went on a run which saw him become champion at middleweight and light-heavyweight.

Vakhitov trains and fights out of Team Kuzbass in the Kuzbass region of Siberia, Russia under decorated coach Vitaly Miller and is currently conducting a two-month training camp at Kill Cliff FC in Florida, USA. 

Roberto Villa

Roberto Villa is the CEO, Founder, Executive Writer, Senior Editor of FightBook MMA. Has a passion for Combat Sports and also a podcast host for Sitting Ringside. He’s also a former MMA fighter and Kickboxer.