Pereira dismisses Vakhitov's role in Gane camp ahead of interim heavyweight title fight

Alex Pereira insists Artem Vakhitov’s presence in Ciryl Gane’s training camp will have no bearing on their interim UFC heavyweight title fight at UFC Freedom 250, scheduled for June 14 on the south lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C.

Vakhitov, 35, is the last fighter to defeat Pereira in kickboxing, edging the Brazilian by majority decision at Glory 78 in September 2021 to reclaim the Glory light heavyweight belt. That narrow verdict levelled their head-to-head record at one apiece, following a first bout eight months earlier that had gone Pereira’s way. It remains Pereira’s final loss before he made his full transition to MMA.

Despite that shared history, Pereira was unmoved by the camp news. Speaking in the UFC’s “Countdown” video released during UFC Freedom 250 fight week, “Poatan” pointed to both the time that has passed and the fundamental differences between kickboxing and MMA.

“It doesn’t make a difference,” Pereira said. “Kickboxing and MMA are different sports. And I’m not the same fighter I was when I fought Vakhitov. I’ve evolved a lot. Maybe [Gane] thinks [Vakhitov] can give him some useful information, but he’s the one who’s going to be in there with me. If Artem Vakhitov is an honest guy, the most important thing he’ll say is, ‘be careful with this guy, he’s f*cking tough.’”

The Pereira–Gane co-main event is one of two title fights on a seven-bout card. It is followed in the main event by a lightweight title unification bout between champion Ilia Topuria and interim titleholder Justin Gaethje.