Former trainer of a Russian fighter Sergei Pavlovich Artem Bera, in a conversation with a correspondent, analyzed the fight for the title against Tom Aspinella at UFC 295.
On Sunday night at UFC 295 in New York, Aspinall knocked out Pavlovich in the first round to become the UFC interim heavyweight champion. This broke Pavlovich’s six-fight winning streak in the first round. For the Russian, this defeat was the second of his career. He previously lost in his UFC debut in November 2018, when he lost to Alistair Overeem in the first round. All eight of Pavlovich, 31,’s UFC fights ended in the first round.
Boxing coach Baera worked with Pavlovich before his first UFC fights, but was unable to obtain a visa for the United States, where Pavlovich has been training since early 2023.
“You may have noticed for yourself how Aspinall worked. First, he fed on kicks, changed floors and threw a head kick. He did all these simple ones to relax him, then he got hit after a two punch combination. The first blow was light, he threw it more to distract attention, then hit it with his right. Sergei should have met him not with the left side, as he tried, but rather with the right and only then with the left side. He did this successfully at one point. But Aspinall left standing. It’s a shame that he underdeveloped the attack, he started to press, but for some reason he stopped and didn’t press. Even if I could continue to work.
He should have kept throwing that combination. Because Aspinall, when he went on the attack, continued, as he usually does, to raise his chin. Sergei could get ahead of him faster with his right hand, his left side is longer. And it still took a while to swing. If he had hit well, he could have been in front. But there’s no tragedy here, it’s a heavyweight, one wins, the other wins.
— The first minute of the battle, was there anything you didn’t like in terms of tactics?
— I probably wish Sergei would work more with his front hand. So that he does not hold it, but rather throws it, change the ground. Hitting up and down, no more deception. He doubled his front hand to keep his distance. Used a double left and changed floors.
Sergei could also have hit Aspinella’s body more from the start of the battle. Tom can get punched in the stomach, because he pulls his head back well, but his whole body is cut open.
— Alexander Volkov advised us to immediately take the initiative and apply pressure. Sergei responded to this by saying that it would be wiser to wait and take a closer look. Didn’t you get the feeling that Pavlovich decided to prove to everyone that he had not only a powerful knockout, but also the ability to box technically? For this reason, he hid his best weapon himself.
— I don’t think that for Sergei, “waiting” and “seeing” is a desire to show off his technical class. For him, these are additional moments to deliver his final blow. He bides his time in many battles. Now he hit well, but for some reason when Aspinall started to move towards the net and got nervous, Sergei stopped. It seems to me that even if Aspinall himself had tried to meet, Sergei would have seen this move,” Bara told .
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I am Ashley Ortiz and I am a professional journalist working for Athletistic. My specialty is in sports journalism, particularly boxing. I have written articles for some of the most renowned publications on the subject, and my work has been featured across both print and digital media platforms.
