In the not too far off past, Sergei Pavlovich was arguably the most feared fighter on the entire UFC roster. Overcoming a knockout defeat in his company debut to Alistair Overeem, the Russian power-puncher rattled off six straight first round stoppages over the next five years. This streak of highlight-reel finishes thrusted Pavlovich into his first UFC championship bout with the equally hard-hitting Tom Aspinall at UFC 295, who dusted Pavlovich in just over a minute to become the heavyweight interim champion.
Sergei Pavlovich Drops Fight to Alexander Volkov
In the wake of his first setback since the Overeem contest, Sergei Pavlovich (19-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) stepped back into the Octagon seven months later to combat fellow European competitor Alexander Volkov, who he trained together with for a few years at American Top Team. The pairing occurred at UFC on ABC 6, where both men served as the co-main event of the promotion’s then latest expedition to the Middle East.
After suffering his own stoppage defeat to Aspinall, Volkov (38-11 MMA, 12-5 UFC) had embarked on a short but incredible three-fight win streak. Recording finishes in all of them, “Drago” brought down some of the most noteworthy contenders in the 265-lb division in Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Alexandr Romanov and Tai Tuivasa.
Although very well known for his tendency to put his opponents out with a single shot, Sergei Pavlovich found himself having a supremely difficult time connecting with a meaningful strike. Circling his adversary with much caution, Volkov carefully avoided most of Pavlovich’s big punches while delivering solid counter shots of his own and landing kicks to the midsection.
This left the former title challenger baffled and hopelessly chasing down Volkov for the entirety of the fight, as he could do nothing about his superior footwork. Looking like a bloody mess by the time it was over, Volkov ended up winning the match by unanimous decision to hand Sergei Pavlovich his second loss in a row.
Sergei Pavlovich Squares Off vs. Rozenstruik and Gets Hand Raised
Now in the midst of the first two-fight skid of his professional career, Pavlovich was now even further away from the UFC gold that he once was so close to grasping. Looking to bounce back, he made a main card appearance at UFC Saudi Arabia just this past weekend, facing off with another previous American Top Team gym mate, Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
Rozenstruik (15-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC) had been on a two-fight winning streak, with a finish over then unranked prospect Shamil Gaziev and a controversial split decision versus Tai Tuivasa.
Although he tends to keep his fights on the feet, Sergei Pavlovich opted to use his wrestling to take his former teammate down repeatedly, racking up over six minutes of control time across the 15-minute affair. While Rozenstruik did land a hard counter left against his foe, it was the Russian who scored the lone knockdown of the contest with a solid straight to floor the Suriname native.
Putting on his best performance in some time, Sergei Pavlovich ended up getting his hand raised by unanimous decision, getting himself back in the winner’s circle.
What’s Next For Sergei Pavlovich?
Although Sergei Pavlovich ultimately snapped his losing streak, where he goes from here is a bit uncertain. Currently, the title picture at 265-lb is a bit murky, as interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall still needs to fight undisputed king Jon Jones.
However, there is still no word on that fight coming together at the time of this writing, meaning the division is essentially log jammed at the top while the top contenders can only wait for an eventual title unification bout. Still, getting the victory last weekend was a must for Pavlovich, for he now has a claim to take on another top five member, and if he wins that bout, a second shot at UFC gold won’t be that far away.