Former fighter makes hilarious "Tom Brady and Gronk" reference reacting to viral photo of Alexander Volkov and Sergei Pavlovich
MMA legend and former UFC welterweight 'Funky' Ben Askren is back at his comedic quips on the internet with his hilarious take on the peculiar photo of Sergei Pavlovich and Alexander Volkov. The two Russian heavyweights are set to face each other at UFC Saudi Arabia this weekend and yet, they look like they're best of friends in this recent photo on X (via MMA Orbit):
Ben Askren made the perfect reference to describe how the two smiling destroyers looked like to him, replying to the tweet with:
"I’m gonna tell my kids this is Tom Brady and Gronk"
For those who don't know, Tom Brady is considered by many to be the greatest football quarterback of all time with five Superbowl MVP awards under his belt. His friend Rob Gronkowski, nicknamed 'Gronk', is widely seen as one of the greatest football tight ends ever.
The two played together for a long time for the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, having 11 Superbowl rings between them.
Alexander Volkov and Sergei Pavlovich were unaware they were fighting each other
It seems the wholesome energy between Alexander 'Drago' Volkov and Sergei Pavlovich is true. Though the pair of Russian KO artists aren't training in the same gym, they are quite cordial with each other because they represent the same flag.
When the fight was officially announced near the end of March, Volkov came out saying in an interview with Match TV that he initially didn't want to fight his fellow Russian.
Here's a quote from him posted by Championship Rounds on X:
"I found out about this fight when it was already announced... the UFC, as I understand it, received a 'yes' from Sergei Pavlovich’s team, because they replied that they would agree if I agreed. As far as I understand, this card is important for the UFC and Dana White, so few people asked my consent here.
"I already had to turn down several fights because I didn’t want to fight with my compatriots whom I trained with... My limits on refusals in the eyes of the UFC, unfortunately, are gone."
Sergei Pavlovich also echoed this sentiment that his team wasn't expecting the bout with Volkov to become official, according to Red Fury MMA:
"Sergei Pavlovich's team, as well as Alexander Volkov's team, are surprised by the official announcement from UFC about the fight with each other in Saudi Arabia [Translated from Russian]"