Sergei Pavlovich and Alexander Volkov were not aware of their fight at UFC Saudi Arabia, according to reports
Sergei Pavlovich and Alexander Volkov are scheduled to face off in an epic heavyweight clash at UFC Saudi Arabia in June, according to the promotion's recent announcement.
But conflicting reports from a Russian MMA media outlet have now claimed that neither man was aware of the bout at the time of the announcement.
The promotion announced the heavyweight matchup, which will serve as the co-main event, alongside four other fights including the event's headliner between middleweight title contenders Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev.
MMA outlet Red Fury MMA took to the internet to claim that neither the management team of Pavlovich nor Volkov were aware of the fight taking place when it was announced, writing this:
"Sergei Pavlovich's team, as well as Alexander Volkov's team, are surprised by the official announcement from the UFC about the fight against each other in Saudi Arabia." [Translated from Russian]
See the post below:
This is not the first time that the promotion has been accused of jumping the gun with regards to a fight announcement.
Paulo Costa stated that he had not signed a contract to fight Robert Whittaker at UFC 284 in 2022, yet the promotion had announced the fight.
The UFC website currently has two fights listed for the Saudi Arabia card in June, which may add some merit to the reports of Red Fury MMA. But without any comment from either Pavlovich or Volkov, the situation remains unclear.
Who did Sergei Pavlovich last fight?
Sergei Pavlovich last competed in November 2023 when he faced off against Tom Aspinall in the co-main event of UFC 295.
The pair went to war for the interim heavyweight title, following Jon Jones' withdrawal due to injury. 'Bones' was scheduled to take on Stipe Miocic in the original main event, with the pair set to compete for the undisputed heavyweight title.
Given that Aspinall and Pavlovich were ranked at No.1 and No.2 for the shortest average UFC fight time, respectively, fans expected fireworld when the two heavyweight met in the octagon.
The pair delivered on those expectations as they traded strikes for less than a minute before the Mancunian landed a punch that sent his opponent crashing to the canvas. After a follow-up strike, the referee stopped the fight and Aspinall was declared the winner.
The new interim champion to Instagram following the clash and posted this:
"I love this sport"
See Aspinall's post after beatin Sergei Pavlovich below: