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Alex Pereira is the UFC light-heavyweight champion, but he is not interested in fighting Khamzat Chimaev. ‘Poatan’ just came back to the cage and knocked out Jiri Prochazka in the second round at UFC 295 earlier this month. The Brazilian became the light-heavyweight champion, and quickly looked for a third fight with Israel Adesanya. However, he has been getting called out by Khamzat Chimaev. ‘Borz’ has not fought since he beat Kamaru Usman by unanimous decision at UFC 294 in October. The Chechen wanted a title shot against Sean Strickland at middleweight, but he is now aiming for Alex Pereira at 205 pounds.
However, Alex Pereira does not think that fight makes any sense. He spoke on his YouTube channel, where he was asked about Khamzat Chimaev’s recent callout. He said that they were in negotiations for a fight earlier this year, but it does not make any sense for them to fight now.
“So actually, everything started after the Adesanya fight when I became the middleweight champion,” Pereira said on his YouTube channel through an interpreter. “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.’ (h/t MMAJunkie)
He added, “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.”