LAS VEGAS – It was Artem Vakhitov’s former kickboxing rival who talked Dana White into signing him to the UFC.
Vakhitov (3-1) earned a UFC contract Tuesday when he scored a first-round TKO of Islem Masraf (3-1) at Dana White’s Contender Series 75 from the UFC Apex. White admits he was initially hesitant to sign former two-time Glory light heavyweight champion Vakhitov, the last man to defeat Alex Pereira in kickboxing, but “Poatan” convinced him.
“That’s why I’m so late. I’ve been back there talking to Alex this whole time,” White told reporters, including MMA Junkie, during a Dana White’s Contender Series 75 post-fight news conference. “He said, ‘Obviously, a little more clinching than you would expect.’ You would expect the other guy to clinch with him, not him clinching. But he said, ‘This is what I think. I think he’s talented enough. I think he deserves to be here. He’s had, obviously, a ton of fights in his career.’
“Which is what I thought, too, going in. He said, ‘I think that the Contender Series, no matter where you’ve fought or what you’ve done, puts a different type of pressure on you, and you might not perform the way you normally would.’ He thinks that this is a tremendous amount of pressure. He said, ‘All I know is I’m glad I never had to go through the Contender Series.'”
Vakhitov and Pereira split their two kickboxing appearances. Pereira won the first fight by split decision and Vakhitov avenged his loss in their rematch by majority decision.
White acknowledges that many fighters have noticed the success that former kickboxers Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira have had in the UFC, and want to follow suit.
“What I actually think, like we were saying earlier, it’s fascinating how these guys that came out of this whole circuit with Israel and Alex, including them, are doing so well in the UFC,” White said. “It’s fascinating, so yeah, why not? I think it’s all of it. Obviously, those guys fought crazy fights that I’m sure they didn’t make any money. Joanna Jedrzejczyk and many others come over here, and it’s absolutely life changing for them.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for DWCS 75.
