MIAMI – UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira won’t consider Khamzat Chimaev as a potential next challenger.
Chimaev (12-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC), who plans on competing at middleweight next, expressed interest in fighting Pereira at UFC 283, just two months after “Poatan” dethroned Israel Adesanya at UFC 281 in November.
Pereira (7-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) rematches Adesanya (23-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 287 main event at Kaseya Center. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+. If he gets past Adesanya again, he’s not interested in having his second title defense against Chimaev.
“This week, I’m obviously focused on Israel, but talk about (Robert) Whittaker and Paulo Costa,” Pereira told reporters, including MMA Junkie, through an interpreter during Wednesday’s UFC 287 media day. “I know they want to fight me. They were never disrespectful. They always kept their composure, but when you talk about Chimaev, he’s the kind of guy that seems to be a little lost, talks too much.
“Right after my last fight, he said that he wanted to fight me at this weight class. He knows it was right after the fight, everybody’s injured. I could not make that weight so I challenged him to fight at 205 pounds, ran. To be honest, if it’s Whittaker or Paulo Costa, if the organization wants to put us to fight, it’s my job to fight as the UFC champion, but I don’t even want to talk about Chimaev.”
Chimaev hasn’t competed since a quick submission of Kevin Holland in a 180-pound catchweight bout at UFC 279 last September. He was originally scheduled to face Nate Diaz at welterweight, but wound up facing Holland instead after he missed weight by 7.5 pounds.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 287.
