In the aftermath of UFC 320, the UFC landscape changed dramatically. As Alex Pereira became a 2-time light heavyweight champion, he made his intentions clear about wanting to fight Jon Jones. Meanwhile, middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev made his attempts to get a superfight, calling out ‘Poatan’ for a fight in his division. UFC legend Michael Bisping claims that setting up this fight is not that simple.

Khamzat Chimaev and Alex Pereira are two of the biggest stars right now, and that fight is quite an interesting idea. Before that can happen, Michael Bisping has advised both champions to attend to their divisional business first. ‘The Count’ shared a few names who need to fight for the title. Here’s what he had to say.

Alex Pereira & Khamzat Chimaev need to clean their divisions first, claims UFC legend

“I understand that [Chimaev wants to fight at 205lbs]. But let’s be honest, they both got a lot of work to do in their relevant divisions,” Michael Bisping stated on his YouTube channel. Sharing the same sentiment as Dana White, the English MMA legend reminded Alex Pereira about contenders like Carlos Ulberg, who’s in a prime position after beating Dominick Reyes and extending his winning streak to nine fights.

“Pereira just won the belt again. One of the biggest stars in the sport. Massive needle mover as well, just like Chimaev… the reality is that Alex Pereira has got work to do in the light heavyweight division,” Michael Bisping continued. “Remember, Carlos Ulberg just smoked Dominick Reyes. Knocked him out cold. He’s now on a 9-fight win streak. So, he’s got to fight him [Pereira].”

Besides Carlos Ulberg, Jiri Prochazka has also bounced back with a few wins to get back into title contention. But since the Czech star has already dropped the ball twice against Pereira, his Kiwi counterpart is likely going to be Dana White’s choice. For Khamzat Chimaev, though, he’s got more than just one middleweight contender to watch out for, namely, Nassourdine Imavov and Reinier de Ridder.

“For Khamzat Chimaev, there’s people there for sure. There’s Nassourdine Imavov… That’ll be a great fight because the man can wrestle as well,” Michael Bisping further stated. “And then, this weekend, you’ve got Reinier de Ridder taking on Brendan Allen. Now, that’s going to be a great fight.”

Despite the divisional tasks at hand, Michael Bisping doubled down on the fact that the styles of Alex Pereira and Khamzat Chimaev will beautifully complement each other if they butt heads. “It [Pereira vs Chimaev] would be an interesting matchup, right? But of course, Pereira would smoke him on the feet. And of course, in a wrestling match, Chimaev is gonna beat him. That’s why styles make fights, and that’s why, in a weird way, I do kind of wanna see it,” the former middleweight champion added.

Michael Bisping isn’t wrong, by the way, when he said Khamzat Chimaev has work to do as the 185lbs champion. He just won the belt, unlike Alex Pereira, and contenders like Reinier de Ridder have their eyes set on his title. In fact, the Dutchman recently made some bold claims about beating Chimaev.

Chimaev gets warned by Reinier de Ridder

Reinier de Ridder has been on an impressive run in the UFC, racking up a 4-fight win streak since debuting in November last year. In a relatively short period, ‘RDR’ beat a top prospect in Bo Nickal and a former champion in Robert Whittaker. De Ridder’s brimming with confidence heading into this weekend’s fight against Brendan Allen, and he’s so confident that he claims he can easily tame Khamzat Chimaev.

“Skill-wise, I’ll be a good match [for Chimaev]. I might be able to take him down and put him on his back. That’s a position we haven’t seen him in yet. We might end up striking more than he has in his previous fights,” Reinier de Ridder told CBS Sports. ” I think if he takes me down, I’m very dangerous off my back. I have some cool tricks there. If I end up on top, I think I have a good chance of choking him.”

Well, many have tried, and many have failed when it comes to Khamzat Chimaev. So, we’ll have to watch out for that one, but in the meantime, it does make us wonder if ‘Borz’ will ever get his wish to fight Alex Pereira. The Brazilian is 38 years old and has achieved enough to go for one big fight, which he wants to be against Jon Jones, and ride off into the sunset. That’s because even Reinier de Ridder doesn’t see this fight happening. Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.