Getty Khamzat Chimaev
Top-ranked UFC welterweight Khamzat Chimaev recently challenged middleweight contender Alex Pereira and the Brazilian responded to the “coward.”
Pereira soared into the division’s top 10 after ruthlessly knocking out Sean Strickland at UFC 276 earlier this month. The former two-division Glory champion is 6-1 as a professional mixed martial artist and he appears next in line to challenge the 185-pound king, Israel Adesanya, who he’s beaten twice in kickboxing.
Well, after “Poatan” got finished with Strickland, Chimaev took to Twitter to call for a shot against the 6-foot-4-inch combatant. “I’m want to fight with this guy @ufc @danawhite let’s make it,” Chimaev tweeted on July 3.
“Borz” is currently ranked No. 3 in the welterweight division, but he’s 2-0 in the promotion’s middleweight division as well.
However, don’t expect to see Chimaev and Pereira mix it up inside the Octagon anytime soon. During a recent interview on MMA Fighting’s “Trocação Franca” podcast, Pereira confirmed that he’s fulling focused on fighting for UFC gold next, and he won’t be deterred by Borz, who he said is merely “seeking attention.”
“Look at this guy,” Poatan said. “I’m going to fight for the belt, it’s guaranteed. He wants to attention. ‘Oh, I wanna fight this guy.’ He knows I’m the next contender and he still says something like that. I’d like to see [what he would do] if Dana White came out and said, ‘Alex, your shot at Adesanya is guaranteed but he wants some time to prepare, so fight this guy first because he wants to fight you. Your title shot is still guaranteed.’ Let’s see what he would say.
“[Chimaev] wants attention because he knows it doesn’t make sense. I’m going to go back and fight him when I’m already guaranteed for the belt? He wants attention, but he’ll have to take a number and go back to the line.”
Pereira Said Chimaev Is Trying to ‘Make a Name’ for Himself By Talking
Poatan continued with his dismissal of Chimaev.
“These guys wanna make a name for themselves [by talking],” Pereira said. “If I wasn’t going to fight for the belt already and he said something like that, hats off to him. But the way he’s doing it, he’s a coward. He’s a coward seeking attention.”
Borz last competed in April at UFC 273 when he battled Gilbert Burns in an epic thriller. After a hard-fought three rounds, Chimaev was awarded the win via unanimous decision.
It’s unclear when Chimaev will fight next. Most recently, he was linked to potential fights with Belal Muhammad and Nate Diaz, but the latter is now scheduled to fight Sean Brady in October and Diaz is in the midst of contract turmoil with the UFC.
Dana White ‘Guarantees’ Adesanya vs. Pereira Will Be Fireworks
While speaking with the media last weekend at the UFC Long Island post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White gave a “guarantee” regarding Adesanya vs. Pereira.
“When you’re sitting here in my position, you can’t give too many guarantees,” White said via Sherdog. “I can say, ‘Stylistically on paper this should be,’ you know, or, ‘We feel this is gonna be’ … I f****** guarantee you. I absolutely, positively guarantee you that the next fight that Israel Adesanya fights will be bats*** nuts.”