Russian heavyweight Sergei Pavlovich will look to make it two wins in a row this Saturday, when he faces Waldo Cortes-Acosta at UFC Shanghai.
His last fight saw Pavlovich (19-3) snap a two-fight skid, going the distance for a decision win over Jair Rozenstruik, his first win on the scorecards since 2017. His previous six victories coming by stoppage, that raised an eyebrow, but there’s a reason, the Russian explained during this week’s UFC Shanghai media day.
“As we know before [my] last fight I had two losses in a row, so I needed to come back, I needed to figure out my strategy,” stated Pavlovich. “I needed to feel the entire three rounds in order for me to get back on the rails and go on the winning track.”
Despite his change in styles last time out, he’s still expecting to entertain this Saturday. “I think that we’ll have a pretty fun fight anyways.”
As for the outcome of his fight with Cortes-Acosta and where it leaves him, the promotion hasn’t said anything officially. “No talks like that just yet, but then we’ll see what happens. Everything’s possible.”
Later, Pavlovich would touch on his ultimate goal, and the need to be entertaining to get to the title.
“Obviously the goal is the belt. Sometimes you get exciting fights, sometimes the fights aren’t so exciting. You can’t really predict a knockout. A knockout is something that comes unexpectedly. I’m ready for all three rounds. I’m going to make sure to show an exciting fight, a fight that everybody will like, and then we’ll see what happens Saturday.”
A former foe of Sergei Pavlovich now holds the UFC’s undisputed heavyweight title. That would be Tom Aspinall, who faces Ciryl Gane next. Pavlovich was pretty clear about who he’s picking to win that fight.
“I think that Aspinall is going to win,” he said.
Watch the full UFC Shanghai media day appearance by Sergei Pavlovich above.
