The UFC has seen several middleweight greats grace the Octagon. Fighters like Anderson Silva, Robert Whittaker, and Chris Weidman have earlier reigned over the division that gave the UFC some of the most iconic champions. But if you talk about modern GOATS of the division, some names that come up would surely have Alex Pereira and Khamzat Chimaev among them.

Holding an impressive record of 11-2-0 and 13-0-0, respectively, these two fighters truly represent a dream match that fans would love to see. And if you add their shared rivalry and animosity towards one another, the hype will be through the roof. However, the match never came to fruition due to the same bad blood shared between the two. But what started the feud, and what’s the whole history? So without further ado, let’s find it all out.

How did the beef between Alex Pereira and Khamzat Chimaev start?

The feud began with the incredible run of Khamzat Chimaev inside the Octagon. ‘Borz’ is truly a force to be reckoned with, as he proved it time and again by landing one-round finishes against the likes of Gerald Meerschaert, Jingliang Li, and Kevin Holland. With matches so quick, everyone expected Borz to claim them as his easiest fights. However, as per the Russian fighter, the easiest fight was yet to come. After ‘Poatan’ managed to dethrone Adesanya as the middleweight champion in front of the Madison Square Garden crowd at UFC 281, Chimaev made it his goal to smash Pereira by gifting him a loss in his very first title defense.

However, things didn’t go as planned with the immediate rematch that followed. But ‘Borz’ still found a way to grab the attention of ‘Poatan’ by claiming that Pereira will be the easiest fight he’ll ever have. “He’s the most easy fight for me in the UFC. In my career, brother. First round, first minute. Easy. No punch, nothing,” he said on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani.

Pereira decided to clap back at the Russian during UFC 287’s media day. During the conference, Pereira claimed that he would be willing to fight any opponent that the UFC throws his way. Whether it be Paulo Costa or Robert Whittaker since he respects them as fighters.

However, the only name that would remain as an exception was that of Khamzat Chimaev. “Whoever the UFC puts against me after this fight, I’ll be willing and ready. Talking about ‘Borrachinha’ and Whittaker, I respect them. I don’t see them talking trash at me, wanting to promote themselves. Chimaev ran from everybody.” This wasn’t all, as he took things further in another interview that truly sparked further controversy.

Pereira uses the most controversial words to describe Chimaev; ‘Borz’ responds

Days before his UFC 287 title defense against Adesanya, ‘Poatan’ appeared for an interview where he played a fun game. The Brazilian was asked to describe his fellow fighters using just one word. While Pereira showed his respects for Jon Jones and Israel Adesanya by labeling them as ‘warriors’, he definitely did not think twice before calling Khamzat Chimaev a ‘dog’s a**hole.’

This truly made everyone expect a title fight between the duo the moment ‘Poatan’ successfully defended his middleweight title against ‘Izzy.’ However, as fate would have it, Pereira suffered a loss in the very second round by getting knocked out by ‘The Last Stylebender.’ A humiliating defeat for the dominant fighter.

And to rub salt in the wounds, Chimaev decided to poke the newly dethroned king by sending out a tweet. “@AlexPereiraUFC @GamebredFighter, good night for you [two],” Chimaev wrote on X. Although Pereira did not send a direct reply to the Russian fighter, he did manage to answer his critics by moving to a new weight class and claiming the light heavyweight throne. A belt that Chimaev now wanted around his waist.

Khamzat Chimaev wants to fight ‘Poatan’ for the LHW title; Pereira rejects

Ahead of UFC 294, ‘Borz’ was denied the title show as No. 2-ranked middleweight contender Dricus Du Plessis got to face Kamaru Usman for the middleweight belt. Left out of a title fight, Chimaev then decided to call out his arch-nemesis Alex Pereira for a dream match with the light heavyweight throne at stake. Sharing an image of himself and ‘Poatan’, Chimaev asked Dana White on X to make the fight happen. He claimed that he would ‘finish’ Alex Pereira. “@danawhite let me finish him 🤝”

But, as we all know, that did not happen. The reason? Alex Pereira believed that getting to face Khamzat Chimaev did not make much sense according to him. Taking to his YouTube channel, he shared his reaction to the callout and claimed that the timing of the fight did not make sense to him. ‘Poatan’ claimed that he already had offered a light heavyweight fight to ‘Borz’ in the past, which he declined. And now that he is the light heavyweight champion, Chimaev wants his hands on him. So does that mean that this is it for the feud? Well, not exactly. It feels like the two are still at loggerheads and might finally give fans what they truly want.

Latest war of words between Pereira and Chimaev

In the aforementioned interview, Pereira claimed that ‘Borz’ is a fighter who is just chasing the hype. ‘Poatan’ claimed that Chimaev is calling out the opponents who are already booked or aren’t in the same weight category. “This only shows that these types of fighters are trying to run behind the hype and the fame of the champions, and it doesn’t make sense. Now I have to do what? Call him out at heavyweight or what? So, it doesn’t make sense.”

This led the stoic to turn into a comedian by sharing a meme on Chimaev on his X account. Sharing a scene from the movie Kung Fu Hustle, where the protagonist cherry-picks his opponents out of a crowd to get the easiest fight, Pereira claimed that ‘Borz’ also does something along the same lines. “When Chimaev is choosing his opponents.” This post truly went viral and drew the fan’s attention back toward the feud the two had.

And now that he still has the belt with him, the chances are the two could still land in a feud inside the Octagon due to Chimaev’s tendency to only challenge champions. But for that, Pereira would have to successfully defend his title against Khalil Rountree at UFC 307, while ‘Borz’ will have to be match-fit again after a series of health scares. But what do you think? Will we get to see the two fight? Let us know in the comments.