Kuniev Calls Out Pereira, Rips 'AI' Rankings Before Volkov at UFC 333

Rizvan Kuniev already knows how he wants his next year to go. Beat Alexander Volkov at UFC 333 this Saturday in Abu Dhabi, then go collect Alex Pereira. Kuniev rides in on back-to-back wins over Tyrell Fortune and Jailton Almeida, and he's not treating Volkov — the No. 2 ranked heavyweight at 40-11 with 24 knockouts — as a respected former training partner. He's treating him as a man who's scared.

At media day Wednesday, Kuniev didn't hide his annoyance. Volkov had dredged up Kuniev's 2023 doping suspension from his PFL days, and Kuniev read that as a cover for fear. He claimed Volkov and his whole corner tremble when they see him in the hallways, and that the digs about his past are just noise meant to make Volkov feel superior.

Reading the Blaydes Tape

Kuniev's case for being the bigger problem runs through two shared opponents. Both men beat Almeida and both dropped decisions to Curtis Blaydes — but Kuniev argues the tape doesn't lie. He says Blaydes outstruck Volkov for five rounds and took him down at will, while his own fight with Blaydes looked nothing like that. Different fighters, different levels, in his telling.

A win over Volkov slots Kuniev straight into the title conversation, and the picture up top is busy. Undisputed champ Ciryl Gane makes his first defense Nov. 14 against Josh Hokit at Madison Square Garden, while Sergei Pavlovich meets Pereira at UFC 335 on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas. That last pairing is the one Kuniev keeps circling back to.

Why Pereira, Though

Asked who he'd want if a belt shot doesn't come immediately, Kuniev named Pereira without hesitation — and he was honest about the reasoning. He'd rather not fight Pavlovich, a countryman, when the top 10 is full of non-Russians who'd still move him toward the title. Pereira, by contrast, is a massive media name, and Kuniev said a win over him would do a lot for his own profile.

What really grinds Kuniev's gears is the ranking itself. Pereira — 13-4 with 11 knockouts across his career — is 0-1 at heavyweight after getting stopped by Gane in the second round, yet he sits at No. 3. Kuniev figures the promotion's Meta rankings are run by AI, leaning on Pereira's two-division title history rather than anything he's shown at 265. Nobody, he argued, has actually seen what Pereira can do up there, so parking him at No. 3 off a single fight is just strange. Give him a couple more bouts, Kuniev said, then rank him.