One of the most interesting possible UFC Light Heavyweight prospects is moving to greener pastures.
Artem Vakhitov is a highly accomplished professional kickboxer, a former two-time GLORY champion with five title defenses. For UFC fans, his most notable accomplishment is a decision victory over Alex Pereira, which took place shortly before “Poatan” took the MMA world by storm.
In 2023, Vakhitov followed Pereira into cage fighting and quickly put together a 2-1 record on the regional scene. His history with Pereira — and, of course, Pereira’s own story of following Israel Adesanya all the way to UFC gold — generated some hype, leading to an early shot on Contenders Series in October 2024. Vakhitov made the most of the opportunity, scoring a first-round knockout and seemingly earning a UFC contract in the process.
With Alex Pereira’s approval, in fact.
Vakhitov was still a long way off from any kind of rubber match with his Brazilian rival, but there aren’t many reasons to be excited about the 205-pound division in 2025. Vakhitov was one of them, an exciting kickboxer with big power who has history with the division’s champion biggest star.
No longer.
Dutch newspaper “De Telegraaf” reports that Rico Verhoeven will defend his HW title at #GLORY100 on June 14th against Artem Vakhitov.
— Marcel Dorff (@BigMarcel24) March 21, 2025
Per a report from Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, Vakhitov is returning to the GLORY Kickboxing ring to challenge longtime Heavyweight kingpin Rico Verhoeven for his title. Vakhitov vs. Verhoeven will take place on June 14 at the GLORY 100 event from a to-be-decided location in the Netherlands.
Historically, UFC is NOT a fan of sharing its athletes or letting them compete in other combat sports (aside from jiu-jitsu). It stands to reason that with Vakhitov fighting Verhoeven this summer, he will not be making his UFC debut anytime soon.
Likely, a major factor in Vakhitov’s decision — aside from the cheap Contenders Series contract payouts — was GLORY lifting the Russian ban last month. In June 2022, GLORY terminated the contract of all Russian athletes in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but that changed in February. Vakhitov is now welcome back in the GLORY ring and no longer has to worry about that fancy grappling stuff.
