A pair of top 15 UFC heavyweights will collide next month in September.
On Wednesday, the promotion announced via press release that No. 13 ranked heavyweight Tom Aspinall will fight No. 15 Sergei Pavlovich on September 4. The event was originally scheduled to take place in London, England; however, the card will take place in Las Vegas at the UFC Apex due to travel restrictions.
Last year, Aspinall (10-2) burst onto the UFC scene by defeating Jake Collier and Alan Baudot via first stoppage, both of ‘Fight Island.’ The British fighter most recently picked up the biggest win of his career by defeating UFC veteran Andrei Arlovski via second-round rear-nake choke. Aspinall is riding a six-fight win streak.
Pavlovich (14-1) will be returning from a two-year layoff. His last fight was against Maurice Greene at UFC Fight Night: Maia vs. Askren in 2019; he won via first-round TKO. The Russian is 2-1 in the UFC, with his only loss coming against Alistair Overeem in his promotional debut. Pavlovich was linked to Ciryl Gane in 2020 but had to withdraw due to injury.
The UFC’s September 4 event is expected to be headlined by middleweights Derek Brunson and Darren Till.
The September 4 fight card now includes the following reported bouts:
- Darren Till vs. Derek Brunson
- Alexander Gustafsson vs. Paul Craig
- Magomed Ankalaev vs. Volkan Oezdemir
- Tom Aspinall vs. Sergei Pavlovich
- Alex Perez vs. Matt Schnell
- Khalil Rountree Jr. vs. Modestas Bukauskas
- Marcelo Rojo vs. Jonathan Martinez
- Marc Diakiese vs. Rafael Alves
- Paddy Pimblett vs. Luigi Vendramini
- Jack Shore vs. Said Nurmagomedov
- Lerone Murphy vs. Charles Jourdain
- Molly McCann vs. Ji Yeon Kim
- Ariane Lipski vs. Mandy Böhm
- Marc-André Barriault vs. Dalcha Lungiambula
- David Zawada vs. Sergey Khandozhko
