Athletes
Sergei Pavlovich Okay With Fighting Acquaintance Volkov On Saturday
Returning Russian Finisher Clarifies Nature Of Relationship Ahead Of Sharing The Octagon With His Countryman On Saturday
Sergei Pavlovich headed into last year as a rising star in the heavyweight ranks — a punishing finisher on a five-fight winning streak where each victory came inside the opening five minutes, leaving very few eager to raise their hand for a chance to share the Octagon with the impressive Russian.
Last April, he headlined for the first time, stepping in with Curtis Blaydes and stepping back into the winner’s circle after barely three minutes of work; his winning streak extended to six and his aura as “the guy no one wants to face” solidified even further.
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When Jon Jones was forced out of his championship clash with Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 in New York City, Pavlovich and Tom Aspinall were selected to take on one another in a battle for the interim title in the co-main event at Madison Square Garden. Once again, the fight ended inside the opening frame, but this time, Pavlovich’s winning streak came to an end.
“The lesson I learned is that you shouldn’t come out on short-notice and fight somebody,” Pavlovich said with a smile regarding his UFC 295 experience, just a few days out from making his return against compatriot Alexander Volkov in the co-main event of this weekend’s debut fight card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“I don’t give it much mind, I don’t think about it too much because all this is part of our work,” the Russian began, speaking about the loss through translator Sergey Nagorny. “Obviously, in your work you always want to be successful and you always want to have great moments, but this stuff happens at work, too.
“The only thing you can do is keep working harder, keep learning from your mistakes, keep sharpening your skills, and keep moving forward; that is how you get back to winning.”
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Pavlovich took the requisite time to recover and feel healthy following his knockout loss to Aspinall, laying low for three or four months before working his way back into a normal training rhythm ahead of starting his camp for this weekend’s clash with Volkov.
When the fight was first announced, there were many surprised reactions throughout the MMA community, as most were aware that the Russian heavyweights had trained together in the past and were, at the very least, friendly with one another. Many athletes aren’t particularly fond of fighting their friends, though historically speaking, the real hesitation has arisen when a matchup with an actual teammate has been brought up or put on the table.
But heading into Saturday’s contest, Pavlovich wanted to set the record straight on the nature of his relationship with Volkov.
“I think a big misconception is that we’re friends,” began the Russian powerhouse, who carries an 18-2 mark into the weekend. “We’re acquaintances, buds at best; we’ve never really been best of friends or anything like that.
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“I used to come to his gym, we used to help each other train, and then after practice, after training, it’s ‘Hey! How are you? How are things?’ It’s not like we had some extraordinary friendship and now all of this is super-weird for us; not at all.
“Here is the same thing,” he added. “We met up, we shook hands, said, ‘How are you? How is the family?’ We took a photo together and that is as far as it goes.”
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Pavlovich said that it has been two years since he and Volkov last trained together, suggesting that his adversary on Saturday has likely evolved a great deal since the last time they shared the training room, and noted that he had, as well. Looking at his recent results, Volkov’s performance certainly indicates that Pavlovich is correct about his making improvements.
Since suffering his own first-round loss to Aspinall, the rangy Russian veteran has gone 3-0, posting consecutive first-round technical knockout victories over Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Alexandr Romanov before registering a second-round submission finish by Ezekiel choke against Tai Tuivasa back in September. In all three contests, the 35-year-old has shown increased aggression and pressure, bringing the fight to his opponents rather than laying back and allowing the fight to come to him, and it has clearly paid dividends.
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“Even when we trained way back when, he already had everything he needed in his arsenal to win,” Pavlovich said of Volkov, dismissing the idea that he’s found something new over his most recent outings. “It’s not like there was a mental weakness or something was missing; he was already good, he already had sharp skills and was able to win back then, as well.”
Still, the familiarity these two have with one another and the intrigue that creates with fans makes this a fascinating matchup towards the end of this weekend’s historic debut in Riyadh.
Given that familiarity, Pavlovich believes both sides will be looking to use what they know about the other to create opportunities for success inside the Octagon this weekend.
“Each camp realizes that we’ve had sparring that we’ve done together, training camps that we’ve done together,” he began. “So each camp understands what the other one brings to the table, and because of that, each of us will have some kind of traps, some kind of surprises for the other that we worked on specifically for this opponent.
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“We know each other, but things are gonna be different now.”
And just to make sure everyone was crystal clear on where things stand heading into Saturday’s penultimate pairing, I asked Pavlovich if he would have any problem punching Volkov in the face this weekend.
He chuckled, and then said, “I’m pretty sure no.”
UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs Aliskerov took place live from Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on June 22, 2024. See the final Prelim and Main Card results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
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