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On Sunday night the 295th numbered tournament of the Absolute Fighting Championship will take place in New York ( UFC), in which the formidable Russian Sergei Pavlovich will try to get the promotion's interim belt in the heavy weight category. Sports analyzes the hero's fight and other posters of the card.
UFC 295
- When: November 11 (November 12 Moscow time);
- Where: «Madison Square Garden», New York (USA);
- What time: the tournament starts at 02:00 Moscow time, the main card — at 06:00 Moscow time . Pavlovich’s fight should be expected no earlier than 07:00 Moscow time;
- Where to watch: The online broadcast will be available on the official UFC Fight Pass service. On public television the broadcast will begin at 06:00 Moscow time.
Prochazka — Pereira
- Fight for the vacant light heavyweight title
Initially, the main event of the tournament was supposed to be a superfight for the heavyweight champion of the league Jon Jones vs Stipe Miocic. However, the belt holder suffered a torn pectoral muscle in sparring three weeks before the tournament. Now the fight should be expected no earlier than the summer of 2024.
The new main event of UFC 295 is a confrontation for the light heavyweight belt, which became vacant after Jamal Hill’s injury, between two former champions, Brazilian Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka from the Czech Republic. The first lost the middleweight title and rose for a new challenge (fortunately, power and size allow it).
The Czech samurai did not lose his belt in battle: he, like Hill, left it voluntarily due to a shoulder injury. Like a true pro, Jiri made sure that there was no stagnation in the division. The promotion has placed its bets on two well-deserved “killers” who carry out stand-up carnage and, regardless of the damage, give the fans a show.
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"To be honest, Alex is not that good at mixed martial arts. The only thing he can do is hit. He's good in the standup, but doesn't fight at all. After all, Pereira is too focused on punches. In this he is not bad, but in other aspects… I am not the best wrestler to say such things, but on earth I am better than Alex.»
Jiri Prochazka
commentary for MMA Fighting
br>Magomed Ankalaev will be watching the fight most closely: the Russian needs to settle all issues with the Brazilian Johnny Walker as soon as possible and again challenge the new king of the light heavyweights.
Odds: 2.0 versus 1.7 – slight advantage for Pereira.
< br>Pavlovich — Aspinall
- Interim heavyweight title bout
Jones dropped out, the veteran Miocic was not in a position to fight with young people (and, to be honest, he was not able to) — the co-main event included a fight for the temporary belt between our Sergei Pavlovich and the Briton Tom Aspinall. They will begin a new era of the heavy division: both athletes have six early victories in the organization with one defeat, both are in good standing with the league management and are loved by the Western public.
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"There are only two things that can happen: you win or you lose. We both have a million ways to win. Let's take risks. Let's roll the dice and see what happens. Pavlovich is the most dangerous guy in the UFC to take down. I'm not going to do this. As for a couple of weeks to prepare… No, 15 years of work have passed. I've been training with my dad since I was eight or nine years old. This is the work of a lifetime.»
Tom Aspinall
quotes the official UFC website
The main conclusion: whoever wins next weekend will become the absolute champion a few months later. Because Jones will return, finally fight with Miocic, and then both “greatest” will retire, giving way to a new generation.
Odds: 1.9 on both heavyweights.
Sadikhov — Borshchev
Slava, after a successful debut, suffered two defeats by decision and, having received a ton of criticism for his weak wrestling defense, seriously lost his initial promotions. Fortunately, the UFC record was then brought to 2-2 thanks to a July knockout.
Gain a third victory in the main MMA promotion world, it will not be easy for the Russian: Azerbaijani Nazim Sadikhov has not lost nine fights, and eight of them were completed ahead of schedule.
Considering that out of Borshchev’s seven victories, only one was by decision, it can be assumed that the fight of the preliminary card will end quickly.
Odds: 2.0 versus 1.8 is not in favor of our athlete.
Female massacre and a daring Brazilian
Let's return to the main card: they remained there three fights that are worthy of your attention. Here is the fight of ex-UFC champion Jessica Andrade against the top Mackenzie Dern, and the fight of Matt Frevola (three knockouts in a row) with Benoit Saint-Denis (four early victories in a row).
The main part of the tournament will be opened by the rising star from Brazil Diego Lopez. In May, he took on a short notice fight against our Movsar Evloev and was close to a crazy upset several times during the fight. The Russian survived all the techniques of the UFC debutant and eventually took the victory by unanimous decision — Diego, despite the defeat, declared himself very loudly. And three months later, Lopez caught Gavin Tooker in a painful hold in a minute and a half.
The Brazilian, who believed in himself, will have his third fight in 2023 against Pat Sabatini, who will not be intimidated by jiu-jitsu. After all, 11 of the American’s 18 victories were achieved by submission.
All fights of the New York tournament
Main card:
- Jiri Prochazka — Alex Pereira;
- SERGEY PAVLOVICH — Tom Aspinall;
- Jessica Andrade — Mackenzie Dern;
- Matt Frevola — Benoit St. Denis;
- Pat Sabatini — Diego Lopez.
Prelims:
- Steve Erceg — Alessandro Costa;
- Tabata Ricci — Lupita Godinez;< /li>
- Nazim Sadikhov — VYACHESLAV BORSHCHEV;
- Jared Gordon — Mark Madsen;
- John Castaneda — Kyun Ho Kang;
- Joshua Wang — Kevin Borjas;
- Dennis Bouzukya — Jamal Emmers.
Note that the undefeated Nurullo Aliyev was supposed to compete at the penultimate numbered tournament of the year. However, the representative of Tajikistan was prohibited from competing against Pole Mateusz Rebecki due to a leg injury.