Former GLORY Kickboxing star, Artem Vakhitov has once more offered to settle his differences with former two-time foe, Alex Pereira in the UFC – after the current light heavyweight champion urged him to “be careful” with his words after a recent call out.
Vakhitov, who has since made a move to mixed martial arts following his pair of GLORY Kickboxing clashes with Pereira, currently holds a 2-1 record in the sport – landing a knockout win inside just seconds as recently as February.
For Pereira, since his rematch loss to Vakhitov via split decision back in 2021, the Brazilian knockout phenom has since taken two UFC divisions by storm, become a two-weight champion less than three years deep into his Octagon tenure.
And linked with a slew of fights in his next outing – including a monstrous heavyweight move in pursuit of a super fight with current divisional champion, Jon Jones, Pereira took the time recently to issue a word of warning to Vakhitov, who expressed his interest in a trilogy rubber match soon.
This rivalry is back in the news
Check out the best moments from Alex Pereria and Artem Vakhitov’s two battles inside the GLORY ring pic.twitter.com/Kd09gzh78h
— GLORY Kickboxing (@GLORY_WS) July 8, 2024
“Hey brother, be careful with the people that are giving you this idea,” Alex Pereira replied to Artem Vakhitov. “The same person that is advising you that has tried the same to me and I didn’t do it because I’m not stupid. Everyone knows that when they gave you the win it’s because GLORY knew that would be my last fight in the organization and they didn’t want me to leave with the belt.”
“For you to expose yourself like this, it seems that you’re a bit lost and almost certainly don’t have a manager,” Alex Pereira wrote.
Artem Vakhitov offers to fight Alex Pereira in UFC trilogy fight
And in response to Pereira’s reaction, Russian striking star, Vakhitov has offered to make a move to the UFC in a bid to finally settle their differences in the form of a trilogy rubber match showdown.
“It’s been great to see your success and I wish you even more success in the future,” Artem 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.”