Newly-crowned UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira is known for his unorthodox training methods, which include but are not limited to hoverboard sparring at a lean and mean 226 pounds. That said, “Poatan” found himself the butt of rival jokes after getting taken down by Israel Adesanya and controlled in their UFC 281 title fight.
Leading the pun parade was something-weight sensation Khamzat Chimaev, a decorated International wrestler (depending on who you ask) who continues to lobby for his own crack at the 185-pound crown. Unfazed, Pereira recently dropped a new wrestling reel with the caption (translated from Portuguese) “Chimaev trying to take me down.”
Watch the the Brazilian strut his stuff in the embedded video above.
“Chimaev doesn’t want to have a fight in the 77kg category because he would be the next challenger for the title and if he loses the fight he puts everything to lose,” Pereira added. “So the best option for him is to fight me at 93kg, don’t hurry.”
That would require the promotion to delay his Adesanya rematch.
There was talk of having Pereira compete at UFC 283 in Rio; however, the notoriously-heavy “Poatan” requested the bout take place at 205 pounds since the pay-per-view (PPV) card goes down in roughly six weeks, leaving the champ little time to hit the 185-pound limit. Not surprisingly, the promotion has ignored that request.
For now.
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