Alex Pereira is the newly minted UFC light heavyweight champion, having TKO’d former titleholder Jiří Procházka at UFC 295 to capture the vacant strap. In the wake of his victory, however, ‘Poatan’ set his sights on a fighter with whom he has history and who has, to some degree, fallen from grace: Khamzat Chimaev.
The Chechen phenom, who remains unbeaten despite some shaky performances lately, has not looked as unstoppable as he once did. While his rise to the upper echelon of the sport was awe-inspiring to witness, his performances were not nearly as dominant once he began facing elite-level opposition.
He barely scraped by Gilbert Burns in a war that many felt ‘Durinho’ had done enough to win. Meanwhile, the same rhetoric was afforded to him when he struggled against a short-notice Kamaru Usman at middleweight. This drew Alex Pereira’s attention.
Chimaev is known for calling out opponents that he can’t possibly fight due to them already having bouts booked or being in divisions he doesn’t compete in. This recently led to Alex Pereira, whom he once challenged, mocking him for seemingly seeking favorable matchups.
The post, which featured a meme, drew varying reactions from MMA fans, with one comment pining for the ‘Poatan’ of old:
“Bro went from a stone cold killer to a meme page. MMA Twitter ruined him”
Another fan joked that Pereira had grown sillier, even adding a picture of him smiling:
“Your so silly Poatan”
Other fans were in splits:
“Lmfaooooo”
Pereira getting the better of Chimaev in the meme department was also acknowledged:
“Owned him”
A collage of fan reactions can be seen below:
Fan reactions
Has Alex Pereira ever defended a UFC title?
Alex Pereira has enjoyed a quick rise to the top of the sport, partially due to the UFC seeing the value in catapulting him into a matchup with Israel Adesanya, a man with whom he has had a notable and lucrative rivalry. The pair’s first MMA bout saw Pereira dethrone Adesanya as middleweight champion.
However, the Brazilian failed to defend his 185-pound strap, losing via knockout in an immediate rematch. He later committed to a move to 205 pounds, where he recently captured light heavyweight gold. Though he has yet to defend his new title, he is set to do so against former champion Jamahal Hill.
