The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) continues to open new countries : today the main MMA promotion in the world will hold the first tournament in Saudi Arabia, at which several mixed martial arts stars from Russia will perform. Sports — about the meeting of two Russian heavyweights, the return of «Pirate» and other cool signs from Saturday's show.
Pavlovich VS Volkov
- When/where:June 22/Kingdom Arena, Riyadh (Saudi Arabia);
- Estimated start time of the fight: after 23: 00 Moscow time;
- Broadcast: broadcast on public TV will begin at 22:00 Moscow time;
- Odds: 1.5 versus 2.8 in favor of Sergei.
- he scored against Jairzinho Rozenstruik in the first round;< /li>
- in the debut of the fight he left no chance for Alexander Romanov (again TKO);
- at September UFC 293 in Australia he forced Tuivasa to surrender, catching his opponent in a rare Ezekiel choke.
- Initially, Khamzat Chimaev, representing the UAE, was supposed to fight with former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker in the main event of the evening. However, the fighter from Chechnya was forced to withdraw from the fight due to serious health problems and hospitalization (there are still no details) — now the Russian Ikram Aliskerov will fight the Australian, who agreed to take on the toughest confrontation on short notice. Of course, for the sake of getting the “title” as soon as possible. What do you need to know about the 31-year-old Dagestani? He is on a streak of seven victories (two in the UFC, both early), won seven times by knockout in the first round, and suffered the only defeat in his career from Chimaev.
- Sharabutdin “Bullet Balls” has also changed his opponent Magomedova. And more than once. Initially, “Pirate” was supposed to fight Igor Poterya from Ukraine (the most incomprehensible decision of the league, given the geopolitical situation). However, “The Duelist” volunteered to fight Michel Pereira at UFC 301 in Brazil in May, lost early to the owner of the cage and lost the opportunity to perform in Saudi Arabia due to a medical suspension. And on Wednesday, the German Joylton Lutterbach was also filmed. The new target of the undefeated prospect from Russia is the debutant of the organization, Antonio Trocoli (Brazil), who took the fight a couple of days before entering the cage.
- Finally, in the prelims, the first Tatar in the UFCRinat Fakhretdinovwill try to beat a serious opponent, Nicholas Dalby. The poster is cool: the Russian is unbeaten in the UFC (three wins and a draw in November in a fight with Eliseu Zaleski dos Santos), and the Dane is putting his four-match winning streak on the line.
Fights between two Russians in the UFC will not surprise fans. But this is the first time at this level. Heavy weight, third and fifth ranking numbers, impeccable reputation… I want to rejoice as an MMA fan, wouldn’t you agree? But the fact that today one of our tops will be thrown out of the title race becomes a fly in the ointment for fans from Russia.
And the relationship between Sergei and Alexander is excellent: the comrades sparred with each other several times and they even agreed not to meet in the cage unless they put a belt around their waist for victory. It is not surprising that fans were surprised by the UFC matchmaking, because gold will not be at stake. However, Pavlovich and Volkov did not refuse the management — in a few hours we will find out the name of the strongest Russian heavyweight in the league, Dana White.
Pavlovich is seen as the favorite. Until November 2023, the native of the Rostov region was on a series of six victories by knockout in the first round. Absolute madness! The modest Russian guy, who deserved comparison with Fedor Emelianenko himself, entered the octagon and turned on the beast mode: Marcelo Golm, Maurice Greene, Shamil Abdurakhimov, Derrick Lewis, Tai Tuivasa and Curtis Blaydes “formed” under his blows. UFC management appreciated Sergei's performances and did not leave the merciless knockout artist without a fight for the title.
True, the fight in the end was for a temporary title. In the fall, Pavlovich took on Tom Aspinall and suffered a terrible defeat from the Briton, running into a tough series at the very beginning of the meeting. Fortunately, the memories of the cool win streak are still fresh, so one victory (preferably by knockout) will quickly return the Russian representative to his previous position. But at the cost of defeating Volkov… Alexander mentioned that Sergei could refuse the fight, since he himself did not want to do this. And 32-year-old Pavlovich did not like this judgment:
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«What are you talking about? We are adults! What does it mean “on your part there is an opportunity to refuse, but on mine there is no”? <…> If they refuse, then two refuse! It turns out that if one agrees, then he will be handsome in the face of the organization, and you will turn out….” (Sport24)
The fight of life for Drago, like Pavlovich, lost to Aspinall in the spring of 2022 and Volkov. However, from that moment on, Alexander was unstoppable — the former Bellator champion had three early victories in a row:
Now the 35-year-old Muscovite is again very close to the first “title”. How many such trips for gold were there? They counted four: in addition to Aspinall, “Drago” Lewis (a most offensive knockout), Blaydes and Cyril Gun were tripped up at the last moment. The meeting with Pavlovich becomes the last chance to get a meeting with the champion — there is no room for error about one of the most fun representatives of domestic MMA.
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"Heavyweights can break an opponent’s face with just one blow. And the fight can turn the other way in a second. I have already fought with many top fighters —It's my time to take the belt. I just have to go into the octagon and do my job. I think no one knows my fighting style better than Pavlovich. Because we trained together a lot. This fight will be a big challenge for me. I'll try to show my best qualities. Show him something he hasn't seen yet.» (UFC Press Service)
Other Russians at UFC on ABC 6
