Alex Pereira Remains Coy On Khamzat Chimaev Fight Amid Callout: ‘We’ll See About That’
Off the back of his stunning first round knockout win over Sean Strickland at UFC 276 on Saturday night, Brazilian kickboxer, Alex Pereira received a quite surprising callout from the undefeated, Khamzat Chimaev, however, the latter has still yet to be drawn on questions of a future fight between the two red-hot contenders.
Pereira, who made just his third UFC appearance in Las Vegas, Nevada over the course of last weekend, likely earned his third combat sports outing with middleweight kingpin, Israel Adesanya – stopping the #4 ranked division challenger, Strickland, with a picture-perfect opening round knockout.
Circling Strickland for the entirety of the two-and-a-half-minute first round, Pereira set up a left hook expertly, dropping the North Carolina native before following up with strikes to land a first frame KO win.
Entering the Octagon without a top-15 number beside his name, the Sao Paulo striking phenom had made his UFC debut back in November with a highlight-reel flying knee win over Andreas Michailidis, before then defeating fellow Brazilian, Bruno Silva with a unanimous decision performance.
Given his well-documented history with the aforenoted, Adesanya, whom he holds two kickboxing wins over – including a devastating 2017 one-punch knockout win, Pereira managed to fast track his way to a championship fight with his knockout success against Strickland in ‘Sin City’.
However, despite the fact a title showdown with the Nigerian-Kiwi likely awaits him, Pereira received a quite surprising callout from welterweight nightmare, Chimaev, who urged UFC leader, Dana White to book him against next.
“I’m want (sic) to fight with this guy UFC,” Khamzat Chimaev tweeted following UFC 276. “Dana White let’s make it.”
Addressing his next step post-his UFC 276 finish over Strickland, Pereira set sights firmly on a title offing against Adesanya, and refused to speak openly on a future fight with Chimaev.
“I’m gonna keep the same line that I always do,” Alex Pereira said during an interview with Helen Yee. “See what’s in front of me, not what is ahead. Same with (the) Sean Strickland fight. People were talking about Israel’s (Adesanya) fight and I said, ‘Look, I’ve got to take care of this first.’”
“Right now, I’m gonna take care of my fight with Israel for the title and then after that, we’ll see about that,” Alex Pereira said of a fight with Khamzat Chimaev. “To be the champion, that’s my goal.” (Transcribed by MMA Mania)
