Entering the UFC with a 12-0 record, Pavlovich immediately secured star Alistair Overeem as his opponent and lost for the first time in his career. After closing the defeat, Pavlovich collected it – only it was a cruciate ligament injury. He ended up missing two years. But in 2022, the heavyweight fought twice and ended up in fifth place in the rankings after beating Derrick Lewis. Now Pavlovich is trying not to become a star and he is very good at it.
– You are now the best Russian heavyweight according to the UFC and the 6th in the world according to FightMatrix – have you been vaccinated against star disease?
– And I’ve had it since childhood. Fallen into a tank.
– Surprised that you are immediately placed in fifth place in the ranking?
– When I came out, I understood who I was fighting against and what the consequences would be, and everyone understood it very well.
– How was your week after the fight with Derrick Lewis?
– I probably slept for two days, because the day flew by, then I went to the gym. Like, and 10 days off was.
– They say you went to the Comedy Club, how was it there?
– Cool. Interesting. As I understand it, they went to UFC Russia, there is an employee who organized it.
– Do you remember anyone of school age from there?
– Looked, of course. I liked Kharlamov, Volya, Revva. They were funny then. But, by the way, and now it was interesting to watch.
– Were you kidding?
– Well yes. But, by the way, light.
– Some fighters say it’s better to fight than to go to an event or give an interview. Not you ?
– Well, at first it’s like that, then you get used to it, you understand that this is the time – you have to be a versatile fighter.
– No damage from the fight with Lewis?
– The cut was small on the head, otherwise everything is fine.
– Your coach said that you will not fight in Abu Dhabi on October 22, because you need time to rest. How long do you want to rest?
– After the fight in London (March 19. – “”), I did not manage to rest at all, the training process immediately began. Now I’m slowly getting involved, there’s nothing like you doing nothing at all for a month.
Do you gain weight between fights?
– Not to say that I am very corroded, in principle, I hold on. Now about 120 kg, it takes a bit to fight.
– And how much do you shoot at most?
– 45 times.
– Tin.
– It was recently, I weighed just 120 kg.
– You had a cruciate ligament injury, it is said that some fighters cannot fully recover. How did it go for you ?
– Recovery – I didn’t think it was such a boring subject, but when you come across it, it turns out that it’s a very long process, it seems to me that I even recovered for more than six months. What I didn’t like the most was that you couldn’t walk normally – with crutches, that’s all. And the recovery exercises were already a joy, because there are already happy people who can move around. Then you learn to lean on that leg again, you fight with uncertainty.
– Journalist Alexander Lyutikov said that you removed the nickname “Drago” from Volkov and took the place of an exemplary Russian heavyweight.
No, I don’t need other people’s nicknames. I don’t know how Russian heavyweights are represented in America, I can only answer for myself.
– Did Alexander Volkov say anything after the fight with Lewis?
– Congratulations. We always support each other. We have such a mentality that if someone succeeds, we will be happy for each other, we will always congratulate each other.
– But don’t you feel like the UFC is betting on you? In the first fight they gave Overeem, now Lewis, even though you weren’t in the top 10, but he was in the top 5.
— It’s hard for me to talk about it, but I don’t know what’s in the organization itself, what thoughts.
– Judging by the scheduled and past heavyweight fights, Curtis Blades can become your opponent.
– We are waiting. Blades? Everything is possible, we do not rule it out.
– He has a very strong fight for MMA, and it is known from you that you were engaged in Greco-Roman, where there is no contact with the legs. And how ready are you for the passes in the legs, for the counter-attacks?
– I’ll tell you a secret – in our childhood it was like this: who fought in Greco-Roman wrestling, he fought in freestyle, and vice versa, so there is an idea. But I fought only for children at competitions, I can say that I didn’t go there much, it was somehow more for health, and that’s it.
Was Alexander Karelin one of the heroes?
– I will say this – I did not particularly follow the fight. More after the fights, we sold DVDs there, and watched the very first UFC tournaments. The fifth, sixth tournaments where Tank Abbot fought, they are the very first.
Did you watch at least one MMA fight a month after the fight with Lewis?
– If familiar compatriots are fighting, I try to watch, but during this period I rested more.
Did you see the Shlemenko vs. Ilic fight?
– I saw extracts (the fight lasted 22 seconds. – “”)
– In your weight, everything goes to the superfight between Ngannou and Jon Jones, do you think it will pass?
“The question is what form Jones will return. Look interesting, but I can’t say how it will be.
– Don’t you think Jones has no knockout power in punches?
– I say it will be interesting to see how he comes back, in what form. What will happen in heavyweight.
– People who train with you say you have a very tight shot. And it is difficult to control it in sparring, so as not to let people down, but at the same time train hard.
– You say that as if I came into the room and immediately planned: I will drop this one, I will not drop it. A knockout does not come when you plan it, but while training, you just try to work carefully, you have to help each other, it is not planned to cripple someone.
– And how do you explain where you had a coup de grace, what did you do as a child?
– Cut and sawn firewood. He carried water in buckets, mowed the grass. Work made a man out of a monkey.
– And from Sergey Pavlovich – the top of the UFC.
– Yes, I think that the work of any person ennobles.
– You grew up in a small town in the Rostov region, you fought a lot on the streets, do people from that time ever write something to you on social networks?
– And I keep in touch with the guys that I worked with, that I grew up with. We call someone, radiate.
– Do you give advice?
– It happens that even people far from the sport give advice. Apparently they see better, they probably have a third eye. I agree with that, I understand that people with good intentions speak. As he rested, a rather elderly man, 55-60 years old, spoke politely, calmly and then said, “Sereg, well, you have to stop the fight! Tighten up a little.” And I understand that he probably never played sports. But he himself said: “Yes, good!”
– There are five Russian-speaking heavyweights in the UFC top 15: you, Spivak, Volkov, Abdurahimov and Romanov. Am I to understand correctly that you will only avoid the fight with Volkov because you train together?
You answered for me, yes.
– With Volkov – no. Can you chat with others?
– Yes, there are a lot of foreigners, if possible, it is better to fight with them.
Source : MatchTV
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
