Rizvan Kuniev wants Alex Pereira matchup after UFC 333, slams UFC Meta Rankings

UFC 333 will mark Rizvan Kuniev's highest-profile card to date. He takes on longtime UFC heavyweight mainstay Alexander Volkov, and is certain he will win. So certain, in fact, that he has already selected his next opponent: Alex Pereira.

Rizvan Kuniev eyes Alex Pereira as ideal opponent

There's no shortage of confidence for Rizvan Kuniev, who is already looking past the highly experienced Alexander Volkov, who he faces later this evening at UFC 333. He wants to face Alex Pereira, one of the biggest stars in the sport, next. While he also highlighted Sergei Pavlovich, he also expressed an unwillingness to fight him, which he had also expressed about the Volkov matchup, because all three men are Russian countrymen and he would rather face opponents from elsewhere.

Though the most important aspect of the Pereira fight to him is how much of a star 'Poatan' is. So, naturally, a win over Pereira would go a long way in elevating Kuniev's own star power (8:20):

"I think Pereira or Pavlovich, but honestly Pereira first because I wouldn't want to fight someone who is a countryman. I already said that in the interview yesterday, I would not want to fight Volkov because there are tons of other guys in the top 10 in the heavyweight division, who are not from where I'm from and who I can fight and it can still be an important fight and bring me closer to the title. But, like I said, I think Pereira is somebody that would be a really good fight for me because he's a very big media name and for me, specifically for me, a win over him would really do a lot in the media for myself."

Kuniev also had some thoughts about the UFC Meta Rankings, which he finds curious given that Pereira is currently ranked as the #3 heavyweight despite only ever fighting once in the division, which was a second-round TKO loss to Ciryl Gane at UFC Freedom 250.

"As far as I'm concerned, I think it's AI that does those rankings because it doesn't really make much sense. I think the reason he's number three is because they're looking at all his accolades before, being a champion in two weight classes before this one, but to go on number three in heavyweight after one loss? I think that's very strange."

Unfortunately for Kuniev, a fight with Pereira is highly unlikely, as 'Poatan' is currently set to face Pavlovich at UFC 335 and has claimed that another loss would convince him to move back down to light heavyweight. A win, though, would likely have Pereira campaigning for another heavyweight title shot, so it's out of Kuniev's hands.