UFC 272: Sergey Spivak Looking for Shorter Turnaround, Unsure About Aspinall Rematch

Las Vegas, NV — It’s doubtful anyone saw Sergey Spivak’s win over Greg Hardy going as smoothly as it did at UFC 272 on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

From the moment he hit his first takedown, Spivak (14-3) appeared to be in the driver’s seat. Hardy, the beleaguered former NFL star now struggling as a UFC heavyweight, couldn’t get his offense going in the fight, and had little to offer on the ground. In quick succession, Spivak took him down several times, moved to mount, and finished the fight with ground n’ pound.

Spivak told media outlets that he was “ready for this” in terms of getting Hardy down early and making it a quick night. And it’s exactly the sort of outcome he wanted.

“I like this. First round. Not a long fight,” Spivak, a.k.a. “The Polar Bear,” said backstage at the T-Mobile Arena. “You don’t have injuries. For this job, it’s very important.”

In terms of a return to the cage, the Moldovan heavyweight noted that he’d spent a lot of time preparing more his most recent endeavour. A shorter turnaround might be in order. “Six months I prepared for this fight. It’s a very long training camp,” he stated. “But I think, three months, I come back.”

Against who, your guess is as good as ours. For Spivak, it doesn’t matter. The UFC sets the opponent. “I don’t choose my opponents. UFC gives me fights, I fight,” he noted.

There may, however, be an opening on the UFC London card in two week’s time. Thanks to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Alexander Volkov’s status is in limbo. At last check, he’d yet to leave Russia — and a Europe-wide travel ban on the country may prevent him from doing so at all, unless he can get to a neutral third party first.

On that front, Spivak wasn’t sure if he’d be willing to replace Volkov against Tom Aspinall or not. The pair fought just last year, and despite the chance to avenge a loss, Spivak said that he didn’t “know if it’s right— because last time I fight with him, one week before, I said yes [to] the fight. And I [wasn’t] ready for this fight.”

Watch the full UFC 272 post-fight press scrum with Sergey Spivak above. More coverage from the event can be found below.