Rivalries: Sergei Pavlovich

Sergei Pavlovich has for the time being wandered off the path to contention in the always-volatile Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight division.

The 6-foot-3, 260-pound Russian will take aim at his first win in nearly two years when he toes the line against Jairzinho Rozenstruik in a UFC Fight Night 250 heavyweight showcase on Saturday at anb Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Pavlovich, who owns a 6-3 record across his nine assignments inside the Octagon, steps back into view following consecutive losses. The 32-year-old Eagles MMA rep has secured 15 of his 18 professional victories—a whopping 83% of them—by knockout or technical knockout.

As Pavlovich makes final preparations for his looming showdown with Rozenstruik, a look at a few of the rivalries that have helped shape his career to this point:

Mikhail Mokhnatkin

Pavlovich struck gold with the inaugural Fight Nights Global heavyweight title when he took a five-round unanimous decision from the decorated sambo practitioner in the FNG 68 main event on June 2, 2017 at the Yubileyny Sports Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. Scores were 49-47, 48-47 and 48-47. Neither man truly separated himself from the other in a 25-minute encounter that was filled with inactivity. Pavlovich moved forward behind sporadic right hands and leg kicks, then punctuated his efforts by completing the only takedown of the match in the waning seconds of Round 5. He made one successful title defense—Kirill Sidelnikov proved to be little more than an annoyance some five months later—before he vacated the throne to sign with the UFC.

Derrick Lewis

Pavlovich solidified himself as a key player in the heavyweight division when he buried “The Black Beast” with punches in the first round of their featured UFC 277 attraction on July 30, 2022 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Lewis succumbed to blows 55 seconds into Round 1, suffering the second sub-minute stoppage loss of his career. A counter right hook from Pavlovich marked the beginning of the end for the former Legacy Fighting Championship titleholder. More power punches followed and briefly drove Lewis to the canvas. He was in the process of returning to his feet when referee Dan Miragliotta elected to step in and wave it off. Lewis protested the stoppage, to no avail, though replays showed he managed to avoid many of the damaging follow-up shots.

Tom Aspinall

The Team Kaobon linchpin captured the interim heavyweight championship and did so in devastating fashion when he turned away Pavlovich with punches in the first round of their UFC 295 co-headliner on Nov. 11, 2023 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Aspinall closed it out 69 seconds into Round 1. Pavlovich zapped the Englishman with a left hook during one of their first exchanges but never managed to follow up. Aspinall took away his equilibrium with a clubbing right hand to the side of the head, decked him with another and chased him to the canvas. More punches and hammerfists followed on the defenseless Pavlovich, leaving Miragliotta no choice but to intervene.

Alexander Volkov

The former Bellator MMA and M-1 Global champion outstruck Pavlovich to a unanimous decision in the UFC on ABC 6 co-main event on June 22, 2024 at Kingdom Arena in in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Scores were 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28. Pavlovich failed on his only takedown attempt and struggled to find his 6-foot-7 counterpart in the standup, connecting on just 34% of his strikes. Volkov mixed kicks to the body and legs with clean one-twos, slowly but surely wearing down his ex-training partner. His jab became more and more of a factor as time went on, allowing him to foil any thoughts of a Pavlovich rally. By the time it was over, Volkov had outland his fellow Russian by an 83-46 margin. So frustrated was Pavlovich by what had unfolded that he shoved “Drago” prior to the scorecards being read.