Artem Vakhitov, last man to beat Alex Pereira in kickboxing, set to fight at Dana White’s Contender Series

Artem Vakhitov fights for the opportunity to earn a UFC contract when he faces Islem Masraf at Dana White’s Contender Series on Oct. 8 in Las Vegas, multiple people with knowledge of the booking told MMA Fighting following a report from MMA Propagande.

Vakhitov, known for being the last man to beat UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira in kickboxing, inked the deal days after an virtual back and forth with “Poatan”.

Vakhitov recently told MMA Fighting the Brazilian “has no defense”, to which Pereira responded by saying he seemed to be “a bit lost”. They went on to argue over their two bouts in GLORY, where each won a decision.

Vakhitov was the GLORY light heavyweight champion until the kickboxing company parted ways with all Russians athletes under contract immediately after the Russia-Ukraine conflict began. Vakhitov eventually transitioned to MMA, winning twice this year to bring his record to 2-1.

Masraf went 2-0 as an amateur MMA fighter and has since gone 3-0 as a professional, capped off by a viral 10-second knockout over Mickael Groguhe at PFL Europe in March.

Damon Martin contributed to this report