News Sergei Pavlovich vs. Alexander Volkov set as co-main event for UFC Saudi Arabia, June 22nd

[Dijardo]

what an awful matchmaking. all you gonna see is 15 min of friendly stareing with no action that will look like a russian remake of Lewis vs Ngannou.
Alex by decision

 

[sonhow]

Russia on Russia.
Id be surprised if Sergei lost

 

[moreorless87]

what an awful matchmaking. all you gonna see is 15 min of friendly stareing with no action that will look like a russian remake of Lewis vs Ngannou.
Alex by decision

Has Alex ever fought like that in the past? granted I think that KO loss to Tom might have that effect as it did with Francis but nothing we've seen so far from him suggests it.

 

[The_Renaissance]

Much better fight than the Volkov/Almeida one, can see this being a banger. Pavlovich by TKO I reckon.

 

[Dijardo]

Has Alex ever fought like that in the past? granted I think that KO loss to Tom might have that effect as it did with Francis but nothing we've seen so far from him suggests it.

None of them fought like that. What i mean is that they are friends and have been training partners for years. Nothing suggests any one of them will go for a finish and Volkov is just better in point fighting.

 

[moreorless87]

None of them fought like that. What i mean is that they are friends and have been training partners for years. Nothing suggests any one of them will go for a finish and Volkov is just better in point fighting.

Do they actually train at the same camp? I know they've trained together sometimes but I was under the impression they were out of different gyms.

 

[Tweak896]

Would've rather seen a combination of Gane/Blaydes/Almeida/Pavlovich. Those guys seem to be the real top of the division right now. If we're going to get another top contender.

 

[Dijardo]

Do they actually train at the same camp? I know they've trained together sometimes but I was under the impression they were out of different gyms.

They don't. Volkov has his own team and Pavlovich trains in American top team. But Sergei was Alex's main sparring partner during Lewis and i think some other camps. They both live in Moscow and there is not that many UFC level hw here so they train together offseason frequently. Always friendly and respectful in media too.

Volkov's coach an hour ago:
We are very surprised with this news. Sasha found out about it at night, me - this morning. We said we are ready to accept any fight but in case of Pavlovich it has to be for the title. Our managers are figuring out the situation.

 

[mjfan23]

After Pav wins: Tommy was lucky he caught him

After Pav loses: Tommy took his soul, he should quit already

 

[Wuzz]

Just so you know guys, no one in Russia wants to see this fight. And russian fighters said it multiple times they dont wanna fight each other unless its for the title. We are not brazilians. I'm sure Dana again announced it without signing contracts first.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

I thought they were best friends and could never fight

 

[flektarn]

Is gane just waiting for a TS thinking he deserves it

 

[Ornife]

I rather see Sergey vs Gane

Yes

 

[moreorless87]

Just so you know guys, no one in Russia wants to see this fight. And russian fighters said it multiple times they dont wanna fight each other unless its for the title. We are not brazilians. I'm sure Dana again announced it without signing contracts first.

Don't worry the UFC seems to have shifted the Brazilian fanbase towards strong nationalism.

 

[Dorkman]

Huge firepower in this fight. Think pav takes it though

 

[Mickey Mick]

Interesting fight. Since Volkov has been Uber Volkov people haven’t really had success in bullying him (outside of the champ) he had issues with the speed and slickness of Gane and Aspinall in terms of striking but that shouldn’t be an issue here.
Pav seems to have 1 way of fighting and it’s being an absolute bully with high count combinations and thudding power that overwhelms these other HW’s even cracking our Champion Aspinall early.
This is a good test to see how Pav deals with somebody who isn’t easy to put away and who shares some scary power too.

I’m leaning Pav by TKO in 2 but I’m really interested in seeing how scrappy Uber Volkov is. When he was skinny he was always willing to scrap so watching a legit hitter that isn’t Tai will be fun.

Well put!

I think we will learn a lot about both guys in this fight.

Much better than Volkov vs Almeida imo.

I think pav takes it in a firefight.

 

[Fergelmince]

Don't worry the UFC seems to have shifted the Brazilian fanbase towards strong nationalism.

Why do you say that? Because almost every 301 matchup has at least 1 Brazilian? Not trolling. Just curious.

 

[moreorless87]

Why do you say that? Because almost every 301 matchup has at least 1 Brazilian? Not trolling. Just curious.

Brazilian MMA used to be driven as much by fueds between camps as anything, the UFC have heavily pushed it towards nationalism IMHO.

 

[Mickey Mick]

Hopefully this means Gane is fighting Almeida. He better not be getting a shot at Aspinall's belt over Blaydes lmao.

Blaydes has earned it plus you’d think Aspinall wants to get that one back against Curtis considering how everything went down.

 

[MixMartialFarts]

I thought these guys were buddies