Sergei Pavlovich secured his sixth consecutive first round last night over Curtis Blaydes, his next fight has to be for the heavyweight belt.
Last nights opponent for Pavlovich was supposedly his toughest to date as Blaydes brings a strong wrestling game to the table and is arguably the best at it in the division. However, that was not the case as he did claim his 15th career knockout in the very first round. Following the fight, some fans were confused with the performance of Blaydes as he only started to shoot for takedowns after he had been rocked and by then it was too late as Pavlovich hunted him down.
What’s Ahead for Sergei Pavlovich
With the next heavyweight title bout rumoured for late autumn between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic, Pavlovich may be waiting quite some time for a shot at gold. Speaking with media after the bout he said “I’ll eat, I’ll sleep, I’ll rest some more, I’ll wait.” Quotes via MMAJunkie. As we have seen recently a lot of fighters are putting themselves forward as backups for title fights. Brandon Royval is the most recent example of this at flyweight after his stunning knockout of Matheus Nicolau. A potential plan for Pavlovich would be to be fight ready in case anything does go wrong in autumn.
The record breaking Russian spoke about the rumoured fight going down between Jones and Miocic described it as a “50/50 toss up”. Furthermore, “I wouldn’t say that either of them would be an easy fight,” Pavlovich said. “I mean, they’re both hard warriors so I would have to prepare for whoever it is, then be ready for whoever they give me.” Quotes via MMAJunkie.
Now with a clear contender at heavyweight the UFC can start matching up the rest of the division. Tom Aspinall will likely be headlining UFC London in July against Marcin Tybura looking to rebound after his injury loss to Blaydes. Cyril Gane will want to get back into the win column after his quick defeat to Jones in March, additionally Tai Tuivasa will want to stop his skid as he has had back to back TKO losses for the first time in his career. President Dana White may be announcing some heavyweight matchups following last nights events.
Do you think Sergei Pavlovich should be ready as the backup or wait for the winner probably in 2024?
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
