UFC champ Alex Pereira responds to Artem Vakhitov's MMA challenge: 'It seems that you're a bit lost'

Alex Pereira sent a warning to former kickboxing rival Artem Vakhitov.

Pereira and Vakhitov split their two appearances under the GLORY Kickboxing banner. UFC light heavyweight champion Pereira’s transition to MMA has been nothing short of spectacular, and Vakhitov hopes to follow in his footsteps.

Two-time GLORY light heavyweight champion Vakhitov, who’s 2-1 since transitioning to MMA in 2023, is confident he can beat Pereira in the cage, claiming that “Poatan” is all offense and no defense.

Pereira issued a response to the Russian in the comments of an Instagram post (h/t MMA Fighting).

“Hey brother, be careful with the people that are giving you this idea. The same person that is advising you to do that has tried the same to me and I didn’t do because I’m not stupid LOL. 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!

“For you to expose yourself like this, it seems that you’re a bit lost and almost certainly doesn’t have a manager. That’s what I think. You should send a message to ‘Joinha’ (Jorge Guimarães, Pereira’s manager) because I think he can help you. Chama.”

Pereira, No. 1 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie pound-for-pound rankings, is fresh off his second light heavyweight title defense, knocking out Jiri Prochazka with a head kick in their rematch at UFC 303.

After dropping his MMA debut, Vakhitov scored his second-straight win when he finished Valisher Khambaev in just 23 seconds in February.