Russian Alexander Volkov defeated his compatriot Sergei Pavlovich at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) tournament, which was held in Saudi Arabia for the first time in the history of the world's main MMA promotion. The Sport correspondent briefly took a break from the events of the European Football Championship and followed the confrontation, which should not have happened due to the warm relations between the domestic athletes.
«What's wrong, Seryoga?» Just as it was hard to believe in the inside information about the organization of the Pavlovich-Volkov fight, it was hard to believe in the official announcement… It seemed that a little more, and the Russian heavyweights would beat everyone and get new opponents. But days and weeks passed, and the fight became a reality. Despite the fact that the fighters called each other comrades, sparred in the Moscow «Strela» gym and smiled in joint photos, their paths towards the title chance still crossed.
So Russian fans got a poster in which it was impossible to decide who to root for (both Sergey and Drago are very popular with MMA fans), and foreign fans got a meeting of two strongmen who love to have a brawl in the standing position and turn off the opponent's lights (39 wins by knockout/TKO for both).
The fact that our heavyweights did not want to share the octagon was confirmed the day before at the ceremonial weigh-in before the tournament. Pavlovich shook Volkov's hand and hugged him, after which Alexander made a claim to his compatriot: «Why did you say, Seryoga, that I was the first to agree to the fight?» Sergey did not understand the «attack» and indicated that his manager was given to understand that Drago was ready to fight, which meant that there was no point in the native of the Rostov region refusing. After all, as Pavlovich had previously stated, if they were to refuse the fight, then only both of them.
Misunderstanding? Fatal misunderstanding.
The favorite was figured out How often Volkov was reproached for losing all the most important fights when the “title” was only a stone's throw away. Today Pavlovich’s victory also seemed expected, but a sensation happened! Drago’s team “read” Sergei: for the first time in nine fights in the UFC, Pavlovich’s fight lasted the entire distance. And it ended in his defeat by unanimous decision.
The fact that the meeting would drag on for 15 minutes was no less a sensation… Pavlovich did not immediately rush for Volkov’s head, he looked closely. Sergei, although 10 centimeters shorter, still had an advantage in arm length and had to work at a distance. The knockout seemed to be a matter of time.
Everything was ruined for Sergey by the filigree work of a more experienced fighter. Volkov hit no less in exchanges and even broke his opponent's face, which is why Pavlovich fought with blood pouring down his face from the second round. And Drago's low kicks seriously slowed Sergey down — the favorite did not prepare a plan B. Pavlovich never got Alexander (an attempt to wrestle also failed), who met the siren of the end of the fight with his hands raised in victory.
And then there was an ugly episode that can only be explained by nerves. An angry Sergey pushed away Alexander, who came up to thank his compatriot for a great showdown.
One division – two champions The situation in the heavyweight division is now unusual. If not strange:
- John JONES (USA)— absolute champion, the greatest, according to UFC head Dana White, fighter in the history of MMA. He was the king of the light heavyweight division, and he became the king of the heavyweight division. And now, at the end of his career, he only considers superfights. For example, against Stipe Miocic.
- Tom ASPINALL (England)also rules… He is the owner of the interim belt, he defeated Volkov in 2022, and in the fight for the “under-title” (many fans and experts do not take the status of the interim champion seriously) — Pavlovich. And for Jones, the Briton is not seen as a star — Bony doesn’t want to fight with him. So the unthinkable is happening: very soon Tom will make his first defense of the temporary belt and try to take revenge against the American Curtis Blaydes.
Volkov, with four victories in a row, could become the next after Blaydes, who reached the fight for gold for the first time, and again share the cage with the offender Aspinall. However, Drago himself said after the fight that he intended to meet with Jones:
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"You know, I’ve been doing this for a long time… I want to get a title chance. I missed this opportunity once, but now I'm ready. I think it would be great to fight Jon Jones. He's a big guy with a long reach. I want to meet him in the octagon — it would be good for me, for my legacy.”
Sergey will have to take another step back and try to build a winning streak from scratch. There is a high probability that Pavlovich will next be offered to test the talented Brazilian Jailton Almeida.
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