Dana White's Contender Series Week 9 led by former Alex Pereira kickboxing rival

The penultimate episode of Season 8 of Dana White’s Contender Series goes down Tuesday in Las Vegas at the UFC Apex and for the second time this season, a former kickboxing rival of UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira is featured on the card.

Russia’s Artem Vakhitov is 2-1 in mixed martial arts after debuting in the sport last year. The 33-year-old previously competed in pro kickboxing from 2010 to 2021, finishing his career with back-to-back fights against Pereira.

Vakhitov lost a split decision to Pereira at Glory 77 in January of 2021 before winning a majority decision in the rematch at Glory 78 nine months later.

None of his three MMA bouts have lasted longer than 92 seconds and none of his opponents had more than one pro bout at the time he fought them.

Vakhitov takes on Islem Masraf of France, who is 3-0 in MMA as a pro, and coming off a 10-second knockout win at a PFL Europe event in March.

Yousri Belgaroui also earned a victory over “Poatan” in kickboxing before transitioning to MMA. Belgaroui picked up a third-round stoppage win over Taiga Iwasaki during Week 5 of the Contender Series earlier this year yet it did not impress White and the UFC matchmakers enough to earn a UFC contract.

Vakhitov will have to do something special to get a shot in the UFC, but a past win over Pereira would, in theory, help the organization market the fighter.

Last week, all five winners ended up winning a UFC contract. All 10 fighters scheduled to compete in Week 9 successfully made weight on Monday.

Official weigh-in results for DWCS Season 8, Week 9 below:

-- Islem Masraf (204.5) vs Artem Vakhitov (205.5)

-- Kody Steele (156) vs Chasen Blair (156)

-- Lucas Camacho (240) vs Mario Pinto (244)

-- Vanilto Antunes (171) vs Islam Dulatov (171)       

-- Sean Gauci (126) vs Anthony Drilich (126)