Artem Vakhitov, the last man to defeat former UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira in kickboxing has booked his mixed martial arts debut.
Armet Vakhitov, a two-time GLORY Kickboxing light heavyweight champion, holds the distinction of being the last man to hand Alex Pereira a loss before the Brazilian boogeyman made his own transition to MMA. Of course, we all know how well that turned out with ‘Poatan’ scoring a shocking fifth-round knockout against longtime rival Israel Adesanya to capture the UFC’s 185-pound crown at UFC 281 in November. Vakhitov hopes to follow a similar path as he begins his own mixed martial arts career in his native Russia.