Russian heavyweight Alexander Volkov who participates in the UFC, commented on the announcement of his fight against his compatriot in an interview with Sergei Pavlovich .
The head of the promotion announced the fight between Volkov and Pavlovich at the UFC tournament in Saudi Arabia on June 22 Dana White , posting a video with announcements of upcoming tournaments. Previously, number 3 in the heavyweight rankings, Pavlovich and sixth-ranked Volkov were preparing together for fights in Moscow. Volkov has three early victories in his last three fights; Pavlovich lost to Briton Tom Aspinall last November and failed to become the UFC interim heavyweight champion.
— Will there be a fight with Sergei Pavlovich?
– Probably yes. If I want to fight for the belt, I can’t turn down fights now. Unfortunately, my opt-out limits have already expired. And this tournament is too important for the UFC for me to say: “No, I won’t fight, Sergei Pavlovich is too close a friend for me.” Now Sergei Pavlovich can say this, because he has such an opportunity. Unfortunately, I can’t say that anymore.
— On March 28, Dana White posted a video in which everyone learned that this fight had been announced. How did you find out about the fight announcement?
— It was 10 o’clock in the evening. I live in the same time zone as Dana White, even in the same city. I was putting the kids to bed, reading them a story, and my phone started ringing off the hook with messages from one of the guys I train with: “Have you agreed to another fight? ? Great fight! Let’s get ready.” I don’t understand what’s happening, I switch to these messages. And he tells me that my fight with Pavlovich is announced. I had to ask my wife to put the children to bed, I myself took the phone and started calling to find out. I called Moscow, they didn’t know either.
As I understand it this happened because my managers live in a different location [российском] time zone, they were still asleep when the message arrived. And the UFC, as I understand it, received an absent “yes” from Sergei Pavlovich’s team, because they replied that they would agree if I accepted. And from my part there was an agreement in the form of a phrase that I could fight with anyone. These are our words, and we did not count on a fight with Pavlovich, because at that time he had a fight planned with [Сирилом] Ganom, we didn’t think about this fight at all. We negotiated, communicated and, as I myself realized, this tournament is too important for the UFC for us to cancel the fight without good reason for ourselves,” Volkov told .
Read a great interview with Alexander Volkov on Tuesday on .
Live broadcasts of mixed martial arts tournaments can be seen on and Match! Fighter”, as well as on the sites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.
Source : MatchTV
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.
