UFC welterweight powerhouse Khamzat Chimaev does not seem impressed with newly crowned middleweight champion, Alex Pereira. Probably because Alex had only three fights in the organization before taking the belt off of Israel Adesanya. Granted, there were two previous clashes in the kickboxing world between Izzy and Pereira – Alex won both of them – so there was an easily marketable backstory that would boost pay per view buys. The bottom line is that a guy with a 4-0 record in the UFC is now the king at 185 and it is truly mind blowing when you think about it.
Most fighters wait a long time in the challenger queue before getting a crack at the champion. One of them is Chimaev who is sitting at 8-0 right now and patiently waiting to find out if he gets to square off against current welterweight king, Leon Edwards. Long time fans know that if it makes money for the organization then that fight will take priority over logical and fair matchmaking. Number one contenders won’t necessarily get the shot if guys like Conor McGregor or Jorge Masvidal enter the picture. Plus, chances are the champion doesn’t want a $250K payday for fighting number one when they can get $1Mil for facing McGregor. It’s a no brainer.
As Colby Covington said to Kamaru Usman, “It’s all love. Get that money”.
Chimaev took to Instagram to call out new middleweight champion, Pereira.
A fight between fan favorite Khamzat Chimaev and Brazilian Alex Pereira actually going down in Brazil would certainly be a massive event. Uncle Dana – make it happen.