UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira has a murderers’ row of contenders waiting for a shot at his title. However, he refuses to count Khamzat Chimaev among them. The Brazilian will make his first title defense in a rematch against former champion Israel Adesanya this weekend at UFC 287. Already 3-0 up, it will also be his fourth career fight against ‘The Last Stylebender.’

Pereira won the title by finishing Adesanya at UFC 281 in November last year at Madison Square Garden. The one and only two-weight Glory Kickboxing world champion became a target for many, including Chimaev, after that title-winning performance.

While Pereira is a striking maestro, his grappling displays have raised a lot of questions. Chimaev also called out Pereira after UFC 281 and the pair have occasionally been firing shots at each other since. Now, the champion has denied Chimaev any sort of attention by refusing to acknowledge his title fight callouts. Although Dana White said Chimaev will fight at middleweight next, Pereira dismissed the 28-year-old and named other preferred contenders during the UFC 287 media scrum.

He said, “Khamzat Chimaev is the kind of guy that seems to be a little lost, talks too much… If it’s [Robert] 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’m not even going to talk about Chimaev.”

“You Can’t Leave One Chance With Him”: Israel Adesanya “Finding a Way To Avoid” the ‘Poatan’ Curse Ahead of UFC 287

‘Poatan’s comments have fetched mixed reactions from the fans.

Fans react to Alex Pereira dismissing Khamzat Chimaev

Under an IG post mentioning Pereira’s comments, several fans voiced their opinions. Some said the champ was ducking Chimaev while others agreed that has not earned a title shot yet.

Following are some of their reactions:

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• Khamzat Easily beat him inside 1 round
• Fighters nowadays like to fight 0 top 5 fighters and call out for title shots. Once they get denied it’s the « he’s scared » narrative
• Low key would get absolutely mauled by Chimaev.
• Definitely scared of his wrestling
• He won’t bring up khamzat because he knows he’ll get mauled. Anyone who says Alex beats him doesn’t know mma. Lol try and use some logic khamzats wrestling is next world compared to Alex lol. One round finish by submission
• imagine thinking Khamzat can wrestle a man that is 218lbs on fight night the way he did with guys at 170 all the while still struggling to beat a previous lightweight Gilbert
• All bark no bite these days from rat lip

Chimaev and Pereira are two of the biggest names in the UFC right now. A fight between them for the title would be of insane magnitude. But before that Pereira has to get past Adesanya.

Do you think he will go 4-0 against ‘Stylebender’ this weekend? If Chimaev and Pereira fight, who are you picking to win?

Watch This Story– UFC 287: Alex Pereira vs. Israel Adesanya- date, time, venue, tickets, and live stream

Give us your thoughts in the comments below.