Newly minted UFC middleweight champion, Alex Pereira, is willing to put his money where his mouth is.
Despite receiving a litany of praise from a majority of the mixed martial arts world following his upset of Israel Adesanya at UFC 282, not quite everyone was so easily impressed. Notably, former UFC heavyweight turned comedian Brendan Schuab took aim at ‘Poatan’ not long after the fight had concluded. Schuab made a claim that the newcomer can’t beat “a single guy in the top 5,” (despite doing just that in his defeats of both Adesanya and Sean Strickland) and asserted that welterweight Khamzat Chimaev would “beat the shit” out of him.
Pereira disagrees. On The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani yesterday, the Brazilian kickboxer called Shuab out on his claim and proposed a bet:
“I’ll fight Chimaev in Rio [UFC 283 on January 21, 2023] at light heavyweight,” Pereira told Helwani. “Not a problem for me. Brendan Schaub, I think he was running his mouth. Brendan talked a lot of crap that Chimaev would run me over and blah, blah, blah. He said Chimaev would be able to take me down in 30 seconds.
“So here’s the deal,” he continued. “I’ll fight Chimaev in Rio at 205 [pounds] and I propose a bet to Schaub. He’s running his mouth — $50,000 if I beat Chimaev. Those $50,000 from both sides, we donate to kids in need. Also, $50,000 more that I don’t get taken down in 30 seconds and we double those $50,000 to donate for the charity, too. Not only to Schaub, but Chimaev, too. If he wants to jump on the bet train, let’s bet. We’ll donate to the charities. A lot of kids are hungry today, let’s make somebody happy.”
The AllStar MMA roundup
- Betting: Best Bets UFC Orlando: Holland vs. Thompson
- Inside Scoop: Roxanne Modafferi: Betting adds ‘extra flavor’ to UFC fights
The best of the rest
- Alex Pereira says he offered to fight Khamzat Chimaev in light heavyweight bout at UFC 283: ‘Chimaev didn’t want it’ – MMAFighting.com
- Manager: Henry Cejudo is fighting Aljamain Sterling next for the bantamweight title: ‘It’s a done deal’ – MMAFighting.com
- Paddy Pimblett says Jared Gordon getting ‘bingoed’ at UFC 282: ‘He tries to pitter-patter his way to a win’ – MMAJunkie.com
- Joe Rogan: Islam Makhachev has probably never fought anybody as quick as Alexander Volkanovski – MMAJunkie.com
- Bo Nickal admits wrestling ‘not gonna be enough’ to win UFC championship – BloodyElbow.com
The soapbox
Another day, another Sean Strickland road rage incident:
Dan Ige has something cooking:
Kevin Holland thinks he really got jokes:
Muhammad Mokaev calls out a former champ:
And the new PFL champ finds a UFC suitor:
The morning view
Julian Erosa chimes in on Islam vs Volk:
Francis Ngannou updates his Road to Recovery vlog:
Dan Hardy breaks down Tai Tuivasa vs Sergei Pavlovich:
The Weasle assesses the situation between Khamzat Chimaev and Alex Pereira:
Done Deals
Tuesday
- None to note
Monday
- None to note
UFC Roster Watch
Fighters removed this week:
- None to note
Fighters Added this week:
- None to note
Credit to UFC Roster Watch
On this day in MMA…
On the 29th of November, 2000, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson earned his fourth professional victory at King Of The Cage: Road Warriors in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.
Jackson would face Rob Smith (1-4 at the time) to kick off the event’s preliminary card. The pair battled back and forth through the first frame, Smith making the most of the top control he secured before Jackson turned the tables and did the same – the following rounds were more of the same.
In the end, ‘Rampage’ was awarded the unanimous decision win by the three judges scoring the fight.
Jackson would go on to make his Pride debut the following year after amassing a further five wins in twelve months, though he wouldn’t make an appearance in the UFC until much later in his career in 2007.
