With light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira on a terrifying winning streak, it seems nearly impossible to find a fighter who can uncover his weaknesses. Other than Israel Adesanya, no one has managed to topple the Brazilian powerhouse in the UFC. However, lurking in the shadows is a former rival of Pereira from GLORY, who claims he knows the secret to defeating the seemingly invincible champion.

As the UFC gears up for another explosive month featuring two blockbuster pay-per-views, all eyes are on UFC 307, where Pereira will defend his title against Khalil Rountree, who is stepping into his first-ever championship bout in Dana White’s octagon. With the anticipation building, Pereira’s former GLORY opponent has broken his silence, revealing the vulnerabilities in ‘Poatan’s game—a revelation that could be the key Rountree needs to slay the giant and shock the world.

Pereira has carved a path of destruction wherever he’s fought, earning a place in the history books by capturing two UFC divisional titles faster than anyone before him. His reputation as a double champion in both the UFC and GLORY is unmatched, and his two victories over Israel Adesanya are well-known. Yet, there’s one man who once stood in Pereira’s way—a formidable Russian kickboxing star named Artem Vakhitov, who has beaten the champion before and insists he has the blueprint to do it again.

Artem Vakhitov, who Joe Rogan claimed to be Alex Pereira’s only kryptonite, is arguably one of the best kickboxers to come out of the big nation of Russia. He’s a two-time GLORY light heavyweight champion and has five successful title defenses on his record, being one of the four GLORY fighters to ever beat Pereira. He fought him twice, winning one and losing one, but from all his experience fighting the Brazilian and seeing how he’s faring in the UFC, the Russian star believes that beating Pereira is a striker’s game.

“It takes a good striker to beat Pereira, not a wrestler,” Artem Vakhitov told Russian MMA manager Adam Zubayraev. Now, many fighters, with a basis in striking, have fallen short against Alex Pereira. Sean Strickland is an example of that, but Artem Vakhitov has another bit of advice, which is quite thought-provoking.

Don’t give Alex Pereira too much time, claims ex-rival

The claim that only a striker can finish Alex Pereira may not be too further from the truth because the closest Alex Pereira came to losing, besides the loss to ‘Izzy’, was against Jan Blachowicz. He has excellent grappling and wrestling skills, but still, that did not enable him to edge past the reigning 205-pound kingpin. The only way someone could stop Pereira, according to Vakhitov is if an opponent manages to knock out ‘Poatan’ in the early rounds, as he referred to Pereira’s loss to Israel Adesanya.

“I liked the way Adesanya took Pereira apart in the second round. That’s the way to beat him,” Vakhitov added. However, a few months ago, the Russian kickboxing star even mentioned another weakness that Alex Pereira has, his mentality of only attacking his opponent. Artem Vakhitov claims fighters, who aim to look for the sweet spot to land impactful blows, can easily exploit this weakness.

“[Alex’s] biggest weakness is that he is all attack, he has no defense. Because of his lack of defense, he is open to taking a lot of punches to the head if he’s facing a skilled striker. You saw that in his second fight with Adesanya. He got caught because he leaves a lot of openings for people who know what they are doing,” said Vakhitov as per ‘MMA Fighting’. After watching all of Alex Pereira’s fights, do you think his former GLORY rival is spewing the truth?

Give us your take on Artem Vakhitov’s assessment of Alex Pereira and the only way to beat him. Drop your comments below.