When Sergei Pavlovich blamed a language barrier after posting a racially offensive meme
Sergei Pavlovich embodies the 'strong, silent' archetype often attributed to Russians. However, over a year ago, he made an attempt at self-promotion, leading to disastrous results. The UFC heavyweight shared a racially offensive meme on X.
Among the outrageous claims that the meme made were that Pavlovich had scared former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou out of the promotion, kills black people, would physically attack former UFC women's bantamweight champion Julianna Peña, and that he could conquer Scotland.
However, the meme drew backlash, which forced the heavyweight knockout artist to issue an apology. Pavlovich took to X with a statement, where he spoke about the context behind his meme. He placed the blame on his weak grasp of the English language.
As a result, Pavlovich claimed to not have understood the full context of the meme, which he did not create, and only shared. He clarified that he does not subscribe to the claims made by the meme, and promptly removed it from his X account.
"Due to the language barrier, I did not understand the weight of the things written about me. Posted by mistake and do not subscribe to the things said about me. The meme was not made by me. Peace for everyone."
Fortunately for Sergei Pavlovich, he did not suffer any consequences for sharing the meme, as the UFC does not police the behavior and conduct of their fighters, so long as they do not negatively impact any matchups they've signed on for. To his credit, Pavlovich has not caused any serious incidents for the UFC.
Sergei Pavlovich does not engage in trash talk
Despite being one of the most high-profile heavyweights, Sergei Pavlovich has allowed his work inside the octagon to do his talking for him. He does not engage in trash talk, often conducting himself in a respectful manner, as evidenced by the friendly buildup to his UFC 295 fight with Tom Aspinall.
Unfortunately, the bout ended Pavlovich's six-fight win streak, with all of them being knockouts/TKOs, as Pavlovich was knocked out within a round by the Englishman. He hasn't fought since, but is scheduled to take on fellow Russian countryman Alexander Volkov in the co-main event of UFC Saudi Arabia on June 22.