It’s no secret that there’s no love lost between middleweight phenom Khamzat Chimaev and light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.
‘Borz’ has not hesitated in calling out the Brazilian champion, and it’s no secret that ‘Poatan’ is not a fan of the Chechnyan.
Chimaev didn’t miss a beat when he poked fun at Pereira’s lone loss in the UFC, one where he was knocked out cold. In another instance, Pereira used a certain slur against the Chechen fighter in a video reuploaded by ESPN. And the light heavyweight champion was not happy about this.
Khamzat Chimaev took to his X handle to post two images of Alex Pereira, where he was being looked after by the doctors after Israel Adesanya knocked him out at UFC 287. The middleweight contender wrote the captions “Sama Wake up,” and “Sama.”. Fueling this rivalry even more, ESPN MMA took to its Instagram handle and reshared a video of Alex Pereira’s choice words for Khamzat Chimaev.
Two years back, while having an interview session with the media, Alex Pereira was presented with fighter names and was asked to describe them in one word. The light heavyweight champion acknowledged that Robert Whittaker, Israel Adesanya, and even Jamahal Hill are good fighters. However, when the interviewer asked him about Khamzat Chimaev, Pereira responded, “Dog’s a***ole.” Expressing disappointment in the sports network, ‘Poatan’ wrote, “It’s very mean for ESPN to use an old video to create anger in the sports community just to gain views. It’s regrettable.”
😬Alex Pereira BLASTS ESPN for posting OLD clip of him calling Khamzat Chimaev a dogs’s A**HOLE:
— Fighting Prophets (@FightingProph) February 12, 2025
🗣️”It’s very mean of ESPN to rescue an old video to create anger and gain views… It’s regrettable.”
(via @AlexPereiraUFC | 🎥 @espnmma)
•#AlexPereira #KhamzatChimaev #UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/YIrozwO1n2
Alex Pereira shared his comment on his Instagram stories to put ESPN on blast for stoking the flames between himself and ‘Borz’. Both Chimaev and Pereira haven’t closely interacted to have any real beef, and even though there might be animosity between the two, Pereira seems to be in no mood to have his name dragged into drama.
Well, Khamzat Chimaev is not the only fighter who appears to be in a mood to have a rivalry with the light-heavyweight champion. Even Dricus Du Plessis has called out Alex Pereira in the hopes of fighting him some day.