Alex Pereira says Artem Vakhitov, kickboxing rivals would struggle in UFC: 'They are not me. They are not Israel Adesanya'

10/05/2024 08:00 AM

SALT LAKE CITY – Alex Pereira doubts Artem Vakhitov can recreate their kickboxing history in the UFC like he did with Israel Adesanya.

Vakhitov (2-1) will look to earn a UFC contract Tuesday when he meets Islem Masraf (3-0) at Dana White’s Contender Series 75 from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Vakhitov and Pereira shared the Glory Kickboxing ring twice in back-to-back fights. Pereria won their first fight at Glory 77 in January 2021 by split decision, and Vakhitov was able to avenge that loss eight months later at Glory 78 by majority decision.

When Pereira made his way to the UFC, he came in with two kickboxing wins over then UFC middleweight champion Adesanya. He was able to dethrone him by knockout to become champion at UFC 281, but Adesanya won the rematch with a knockout of his own at UFC 287.

Pereira doesn’t think Vakhitov can replicate the same storyline that he and Adesanya shared.

”I stopped following kickboxing, so I kind of don’t know how he’s doing,” Pereira told MMA Junkie and other reporters through an interpreter at Wednesday’s UFC 307 media day. “I don’t know what his potential (is), but I think fighting me in the UFC at this point could be hard.

“People get mistaken. Sometimes they think that it’s just easy to make a story like I did with Israel Adesanya – guys that beat me on a fight long ago and they think that they just come here and make the same story. Bro, they are not me. They are not Israel Adesanya.”

Pereira (11-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) defends his light heavyweight title against Khalil Rountree (14-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 307 (pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+) main event at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie's event hub for UFC 307.