Russian mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Sergei Pavlovich will return into the octagon on the night of November 12 Moscow time to fight for the interim title of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in the heavy weight category. Sports talks about emergency changes in the New York show card.
Injury to Kostlyavy The main MMA promotion in the world has had to cancel too many fights in recent weeks. UFC 294 took place in Abu Dhabi last weekend, and there were replacements in two main fights of the event: Russian Islam Makhachev fought with Australian Alexander Volkanovski, and not with Charles Oliveira, while another Brazilian Paulo Costa withdrew due to staphylococcus — former champion of the promotion Kamaru Usman came out to save the fight of Khamzat Chimaev.
The next numbered tournament did not avoid troubles.
18 days before the big show at the Madison Square Garden arena in New York, UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who was to make his first title defense in a huge fight against compatriot Stipe Miocic, was let down in the main event of the evening. But injury intervened: a few hours ago, the great American suffered a torn pectoral muscle during sparring.
Now we won’t see Kostlyavy in the octagon at least until mid-2024.
Miocic is also out… The former UFC champion seemed to be tired of mixed martial arts, so there was no talk of accepting a non-title fight. The only person who could motivate Stipe to take time away from his job as a firefighter was Jones. And since there is no John, there is no Miocic, whom we have not seen in battles since 2021… It is not clear what the organization will do with the American next. After all, he also dropped out of UFC 295, and subject to the introduction of a temporary belt, it will be its owner, and not the MMA legend, who will be next in line for Kostlyavy’s belt.
There is a high probability that any day now the famous “heavyweight” will announce retirement.
…call Pavlovich! Now the main event of UFC 295 will be a fight for the vacant belt in the light heavyweight division between Alex Pereira (Brazil) and Jiri Prochazka (Czech Republic). But in the second most important fight we will see our Sergei Pavlovich (18-1; number two in the heavyweight rating), who has already secured title fights twice — it’s time to reward the 31-year-old Russian for his conscientious work and six-match win streak with great knockouts in the first rounds.
Just look at what predators the native of the Rostov region tamed after the first defeat in his career from Alistair Overeem:
- Marcelo GOLM;
- Maurice GREEN ;
- Shamil ABDURAKHIMOV;
- Derrick LEWIS;
- Derrick LEWIS strong> (ex-title challenger);
- Tai TUIVASA (10th number in the ranking);
- Curtis BLADES (No. 5).
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“As it became known, Jon Jones fell off the title bar after being injured. We were offered a fight with Tom Aspinall for the interim belt. This news has already been officially confirmed by the UFC. Let’s get ready!”, Pavlovich left a post on social networks.
Of course, the status of temporary champion is not even close to the absolute championship. However, this is the best that Sergey can take from the current situation — with a cool performance in New York, the Russian guarantees the opportunity to meet in the cage with the best, according to UFC CEO Dana White, fighter of all time and inflict Jones the first (real) defeat in his career. The sensation will not only send Pavlovich’s popularity into space, but will also radically rewrite the history of domestic MMA.
Perhaps, such success can only be compared with Khabib Nurmagomedov’s victory over Conor McGregor.
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“Seryoga is a natural heavyweight,” and Jones was gaining weight. Pavlovich has a punch, physics, takedown defense — I sincerely believe that he can win. Moreover, Jones is after a three-year break. He can get high. Seryoga doesn’t allow himself to do this; he is much more motivated. He can now compete with anyone in the UFC heavyweight division. We just have to support the boy. Even a text message to stay close to this victory: “Seryoga, gas to the floor!” Jones Jones, one round.» ()
Anatoly Malykhin ONE Champion from Russia
And who is the opponent? English fighter Tom Aspinall (13-3; No. 4) repeatedly volunteered to beat Sergei — finally, the management gave the promising heavyweight the green light. Since joining the UFC, the 30-year-old native of Greater Manchester has been grinding no worse than Pavlovich: he is also 6-1 in seven fights under the auspices of the league, and, like the Russian hero, none of the fights lasted the entire distance.
Here who the Russian's future rival managed:
- Jake COLLIER;
- Alan BODU;
- Andrey ORLOVSKY (former UFC champion);
- Sergey SPIVAK (seventh number in the ranking);
- Alexander VOLKOV(ex-contender);
- Marcin TYBURA(No. 11).
It's important to note that the loss to Blaydes was due to injury. Which, as we see, did not harm the British’s shares in any way, since Tom gets a fight for the interim title, closing the loss with one victory.
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"I’m not a bully. If Cyril Gun doesn't want to fight, then I'm not going to impose myself. I want to get into the cage, but the UFC doesn’t want that. I know that I am an inconvenient opponent for him. I think stylistically this is a great fight for me, but if Cyril doesn't want to, I'll understand. There is only one guy left — the big Russian, whom no one wants. I'm happy to take on this challenge and I'm happy to fight Pavlovich. I should have gotten the fight a long time ago, but time after time the fights fell through for whatever reason… Let's do it. I'm happy to fight anyone who brings me closer to the title.» (TheMacLife)
Tom AspinallBritish MMA fighter