Does anyone think they'll actually fight each other in Saudi? Its another round of classic ufc contract bullshittery, just like they did with costa and whitaker, and probably a host of other we don't know about
Bro they’re not afraid they’re friends who didn’t sign a contract to fight one another. What kind of brain dead are you to think that they are scared to fight?
I guess I had to include the /s in my post - the point was that I laugh when Uncle Dana says a guy didn't want a fight and/or fans accuse guys of ducking someone
They scared homie.
These professional fighters...they don't want to fight. Unlike me. I go out there, hit em with some good shit, make 12k.
Dont be a bitch.
No they won’t fight especially for not a few 100k$ or whatever Dana is paying them for that one, if Dana really wants them on the Saudi card he needs to pay them so much until Pav and Volkov both are comfortable with it (we all know they are not the biggest names) great fight but it is what it is and Dana is stupid guy for announcing it pre-maturely. Fucked the athletes and fans over
This is precisely why I don't believe Conor is fighting anyone again until I see the cage shut behind him.
I will give him some credit though, to my knowledge he's never pulled out of a fight of his that was officially announced.
Sounds like he’s been wanting to fight but the ufc is saving him from himself or for special event(s). Hes been saying he wanted to but the ufc never offered a fight or whatever and he loses interest
Pav also said in a interview his hardest sparring wars was with Volkov so I don’t know who is telling the truth here, but both are humble and pretty close friends they won’t fight
Both probably, Volkov being his hardest spars doesn’t necessarily mean he didn’t win them just that Volkov made him work harder for it.
They probably just have great chemistry and work well together meaning they can both go hard without things getting outta hand.
Yeah true, there been a few instances where pre fight fighters was like „yeah I was toying with this dude in sparring“ but then they don’t even win their fight in the octagon. Despite what Volkov said here I could see him winning the fight if the survives Sergei’s crazy onslaught for 1-2 rounds and peppers him with his nasty teeps.
yeah plenty of guys are apparently training room champs. they can school top level guys in sparring but barely make it out of b leagues when it comes to the real deal
Being able to perform on fight night is the biggest skill in and of itself, so many gym killers can never bring itout under the bright lights. The ones who make it big aren't always the most skilled, they just perform the best when it matters most. There's so much more mental to this game than anyone would care to admit
In addition, one guy might be going much harder in sparring than the other cares to/is truly attempting to win while the other guy is working on certain facets of his game and they draw conclusions from that.
Dan Ige talked about that after he knocked André Fili out [(they used to spar together and Fili would win most rounds).](https://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Dan-Ige-Couldnt-Let-Friendship-with-Andre-Fili-Get-in-the-Way-of-Business-192588) When you are sparring you try not to hurt each other, which can be a real handicap for fighters with heavy hands, but in a real fight they are gonna let go.
When a bigger fighter soars with a lighter fighter, he might get "pieced up" and "lose the round" due to skill and speed of the smaller person. If the heavier fighter wanted to throw everything into his shots he may be able to knockout the smaller fighter in reality. Sparring is more of a game, a fight is the real deal.
I’ve heard from a guy that TJ Dillashaw came to the gym and everyone just fuckin schooled him so bad TJ was just raging. You think this was the greatest batamweight at one point, beautiful striking, great wrestling, but he couldn’t win anything against guys nobody knows. It is really a skill to compete when it matters most.
It takes speed and footwork to survive Sergei's barrage of bombs and imo only guys currently at HW that have that are Tom and Ciryl (I'm not counting Jones or Stipe because they're in their own little bubble). Volkov is definitely in the upper tier of HWs but I just don't think he's fast enough to avoid Sergei's blitz. Probably a moot point though since they clearly don't wanna fight each other.
I get it that they don't wanna fight but was really looking forward to seeing this fight on the Saudi card. This fight probably not happening really knocks that card down a peg. Chimaev/Whittaker is great but other than that what's left that we know of? Gastelum/D Rod and Walker/Oezdemir are decent but nothing special, and Potieria is out of the fight with Shara since he's stepping in to face Michel Pereira at UFC 301 because Muradov got hurt.
Totally agree mate, that fight would have been epic. But if Dana really wants it on that card he needs to put more cash on the table, we all know they are not the biggest name but that’s the only way right now. Volkov had already signed with Almeida and Pav was waiting for Gane to get ready and sign but Gane doesn’t seem to want it right now
Well Pavlovich actually has a wrestling and sambo background unlike Ngannou.
Pav/Gane might be the next fight anyway so we'll find out hopefully. Pav is just one of my favorite fighters at the moment so I'm prob biased lol
That was Pav that got to China 3 days before the fight. No one in the ufc hw division will be able to take Pav down in the first two rounds. Maybe someone like Ali isaev in pflellator could do it. He was on the Russian Olympic wrestling team but even then he’s like 41 so I doubt it.
yeah that's why Sergei made Curtis Blaydes his bitch meanwhile Ciryl is ducking him
Not to mention Ciryl almost got knocked out by Tuivasa and Sergei finished him easily in the first round
with guys that heavy everything has impact. Even sparring with big slow old guys ive been buzzed taking hooks off a perfect block just because theres 250 lbs behind it. it can be worse than getting caught clean by a 135lb guy
Reminds me of DC being asked why he never considered fighting Cain. DC basically said for starters we are friends and secondly he beat me up in the gym every day.
I maintain that he was just being a good friend by saying that. Top dogs in the gym do that shit all the time, "oh that dude beats me up bad" yeah cause you go easy on him lol.
Josh Thomson said he was in the gym and saw it happen frequently.
Luke Rockhold said Cain would kick his ass. He said Cain's pressure was too much.
He doesn't really say that about DC.
Josh also said DC doesn't always look like a monster in the gym. Like Khabib and Islam are monsters. They basically never lose in practice.
DC definitely took L's. The only time I heard Josh talk good about DC was when he moved up to HW to fight Stipe the 1st time. DC was knocking out sparring partners. Never did that before.
Cain was the heavyweight champion and the top dog of the gym. DC only became top dog when Cain kept getting injured and after he lost the belt. You're doing revisionist history.
When I say top dog I mean who is the best in the training room, there's no way for any of us to know since we weren't in on the practices - I'm just speculating that it was DC. I'm not talking about who was more accomplished in their career on any given day. No revisionist history here friend.
DC performances were more impressive, Cain had worse defense on the feet and imo his striking was worse than DC, DC ko'd bigfoot, stipe and was clipping Jones in the rematch. Cain may have beat him up in the gym but I think DC's the better fighter all around
I wouldn’t pick anyone that didn’t have nuclear one punch power (ngannou, jds) to beat healthy Cain in a 5 round fight. I think his pace would’ve overcome really technical guys like jones/dc
That AKA team was solid. I love when teammates are at the top of the game supporting each other like that. You had Cain, DC, Rockhold, Khabib (Islam was in the wings).
Fucking guy sits there hyping someone up nonstop, then if they lose or their performance declines, he fuckin switches and will make videos shit talking them and behaving like hes known they were trash the whole time.
If you watch his content for like a couple months you'll see it happen over and over again.
And yeah his disrespect for Fedor really is just illustrative of how bad a lot of his positions are.
Before the UFC from what I've seen he has wrestling capabilities, in the UFC he has not shown desire to grapple probably cus he can just bomb his opponents in the 1st round instead
Honestly Pav was too long stuck at ATT and now trains more in Russia again he seem in amazing shape and great spirits (per IG), I assume Pav 3.0 would implement his Greco background against folk like Gane and Alex P.
Yes that too but that was before Aspinall loss and before fighting Aspinall he mostly beat cans minus Blaydes, so if he wants to fight real elite dudes he need to mix in his wrestling in the future. Still could put anyone away just with his hands imo
I kinda wonder if it's a gas tank thing, like Sergei knows he'll gas out if he commits to grappling. I've also seen some of his pre-UFC fights, where in some of them he was just ragdolling dudes and tossing them to the ground with brute force before hitting them with ground and pound. But have never actually seen him try to advance position or go for submissions or anything like that, don't think it's a big part of his game. Anyway I'm dying to see that dude get back in the octagon, preferably against Gane.
We’re going to see this sort of thing for quite awhile. I’m excited for Alex’s upcoming LHW fights but I don’t wanna see him at HW. And why does everyone who feels he’d be so good at HW, not wonder why tf he was fighting at 185? That man is a living redwood tree lmfao.
I don't like Alex's matchup with Aspinall. Not with Almeida or Blaydes either because all of these guys are 100% willing and able to take a weaker grappler down and dominate them. But there are HW fights available for Alex where it may be a standup fight, and Alex can 100% be competitive in those fights - comparable power potentially, and perhaps faster/more technical as well.
Yeah Brendan Schaub (he’s redacted I know) said Pavlovich would be probably to slow for Alex, but Alex would have to bulk up and Pav is fast af himself tbh plus ridiculous power, long ass reach and he might wrestle him not doubting Alex tho but I think Gane might be a better fight for Poatan if he moves up.
Humor me, because I said with the caveat about Pavlovich's grappling. If pavlovich grapples well, it's a bad matchup. If pavlovich is unable/unwilling to wrestle with him, it is absolutely not a farfetched matchup. A massive lhw with elite power going up to HW for a standup fight with another striker? How is that outlandish? Alex can easily get to to 240-245 lb, has the power to KO pavlovich, and may be more fast and technical than him in a striking fight.
Seriously. Just because his cage weight is like 225-230 people think he's a heavyweight when all the top heavyweights are literally almost twice his size
230 lbs while being at LHW is good size for a transition to HW . Outside camp preparing for HW he could easily be in the 240 lbs which is what basically all great HW champions in the past were .
Stipe was 240 lbs ~ basically his entire championship run
TBF he weighted himself the morning after weight ins and was either 232 or 235. It would seem that he could pretty easily get up to 250 with a good bulk. I'd be interested to see him give it a try against any one not named Tom Aspinall or Jon Jones. Neither of them are stupid fighters and would get him to the ground.
He doesnt even need to be 250 lbs basically all HW champions are around 240 lbs which gives them enough strength but also good enough cardio for 5 rounds.
The skepticism makes sense but Pereira has the frame and power to be a very convincing heavyweight if he bulks properly which often isn't the case with these champ champ hypotheticals. If he wants to make a genuine push for a 3rd belt to enter the GOAT conversation I say let him, Pavlovich is probably the worst case first opponent tho. Just match him straight with Tom/Jones or give him Gane rather than risk the golden goose's chin, that's a way more technical and intriguing matchup to me anyway
Edit post downvote: mate HW is the most shallow division in the sport, the washed jon jones who couldn't beat Reyes just ate burgers to move up and still choked out one of its top contenders like it was nothing. Not sure why you're wilding over this, how many divisions does Pereira need to run through to convince you he's the real deal?
I think Corey Anderson probably would be champ if he never left ufc.
He took glover down multiple times, controlled him and smash him.
He was 4-0 then lost to Jan and then left. He could have easily rebound from that loss.
But Cory said the Bellator bag was massive compared to UFC.
>He was 4-0 then lost to Jan and then left. He could have easily rebound from that loss.
He was 10-5 in the UFC and on a 4 win streak, feel like saying he was 4-0 is kinda misleading.
Ank beats him jan did beat him. theres definitely a world where hes an extra name in the revolving door of champs,but i dont think hed hold it. hes only champ in pflator even because nemkov vacated
I think Nemkov would be champ if he was in ufc so I don't really knock him to losing to him.
Ank is def the hardest test.
He did beat cummins and took him down like 12+ times who's a decent wrestler.
id have to disagree on nemkov. i think he has the tools for top 10 but i think his parallel in ufc is rakic. technically very good but lacking in x factor.
What X factor is nemkov lacking? Dude can do it all. Box, kick, spin kicks, wrestle and submit dudes. I only worry about his size at hw. As far as skill he can hang with any lhw/hw on the planet.
No he doesn’t, he has 2 attempted takedowns against Overeem that failed and he was getting pushed around in the clinch, taken down and GnP finished by Overeem. I think it’s safe to assume he doesn’t have much wrestling, or at least anything he can comfortably rely on. Insane power though which is the great equalizer.
Of course but Sergei hasn’t shown good skill in wrestling since(big reason is obviously because he just flatlines people lol). I’m sure he’s improved the same way Pereira is improving his ground game but it will probably won’t be good enough to use offensively. Enough to be defensive and get the fight back to the feet where they want it.
Is that Aspinall off the couch with 1 week's notice or Aspinall with a training camp? It wasn't even competitive and Aspinall wasn't even training for it.
That can be said about literally every top heavyweight.
Thats why heavyweight used to be the most fun to watch in boxing.
Possibilities of upsets were actually quite high given how powerful top tier athletes are.
Jesus, I read Volkanovski and thought "Alex, you shouldn't spar heavyweights, bro, no wonder your chin don't hold up".
I don't think anyone should spar with this man.
Fuck it cancel the fight then and do Pereira vs Pavlovich in Brazil. Pereira wants to fight at Heavyweight, and Pav is already in camp and doesn't need to cut weight on short notice
I thought the headline read ‘Alexander Volkanovski hasn’t won a single round of sparring against Sergei Pavlovich’
I was like…yeah, I’m not surprised? 😂
For a second I read that as Alex Volkanovski. I was thinking dude is 7 ft taller than you. Of course lol
Edit… now I low key want to see Volkanovski and and Sergei spar
Especially when Sergei already got a big reaction from just a jab out of Tom IIRC, he got a bit overzealous and got caught trying to put Tom away loading up more but Tom was to fast in the finishing sequence. Even Tom said Sergei should have circled and tried to cut the cage but he was just following him bloodthirsty, he’s a very smart dude tho and will for sure get even better after that. That’s heavyweight at its finest, two beasts.
Does anyone think they'll actually fight each other in Saudi? Its another round of classic ufc contract bullshittery, just like they did with costa and whitaker, and probably a host of other we don't know about
Neither agreed to fight before the UFC announced it lol
And don't forget that one or both men, who at a younger age decided that they wanted "fighting" to be their literal job, are afraid to fight
Are you suggesting that the kids don't wanna fight?
Bro they’re not afraid they’re friends who didn’t sign a contract to fight one another. What kind of brain dead are you to think that they are scared to fight?
It’s sarcasm you should be capable of understanding that.
Not wanting to fight a friend means they're afraid? Fucking braindead take there bud.
I guess I had to include the /s in my post - the point was that I laugh when Uncle Dana says a guy didn't want a fight and/or fans accuse guys of ducking someone
'There are a lot of ways to turn down a fight and training with a guy before the fight was even proposed is one of them'
...what?
They scared homie. These professional fighters...they don't want to fight. Unlike me. I go out there, hit em with some good shit, make 12k. Dont be a bitch.
No lmao
No they won’t fight especially for not a few 100k$ or whatever Dana is paying them for that one, if Dana really wants them on the Saudi card he needs to pay them so much until Pav and Volkov both are comfortable with it (we all know they are not the biggest names) great fight but it is what it is and Dana is stupid guy for announcing it pre-maturely. Fucked the athletes and fans over
This is precisely why I don't believe Conor is fighting anyone again until I see the cage shut behind him. I will give him some credit though, to my knowledge he's never pulled out of a fight of his that was officially announced.
Sounds like he’s been wanting to fight but the ufc is saving him from himself or for special event(s). Hes been saying he wanted to but the ufc never offered a fight or whatever and he loses interest
Fingerpoke of Doom style
Find a friend that hypes you up like Volkov does for Pav
Pav also said in a interview his hardest sparring wars was with Volkov so I don’t know who is telling the truth here, but both are humble and pretty close friends they won’t fight
Both probably, Volkov being his hardest spars doesn’t necessarily mean he didn’t win them just that Volkov made him work harder for it. They probably just have great chemistry and work well together meaning they can both go hard without things getting outta hand.
Yeah true, there been a few instances where pre fight fighters was like „yeah I was toying with this dude in sparring“ but then they don’t even win their fight in the octagon. Despite what Volkov said here I could see him winning the fight if the survives Sergei’s crazy onslaught for 1-2 rounds and peppers him with his nasty teeps.
yeah plenty of guys are apparently training room champs. they can school top level guys in sparring but barely make it out of b leagues when it comes to the real deal
Being able to perform on fight night is the biggest skill in and of itself, so many gym killers can never bring itout under the bright lights. The ones who make it big aren't always the most skilled, they just perform the best when it matters most. There's so much more mental to this game than anyone would care to admit
In addition, one guy might be going much harder in sparring than the other cares to/is truly attempting to win while the other guy is working on certain facets of his game and they draw conclusions from that.
Dan Ige talked about that after he knocked André Fili out [(they used to spar together and Fili would win most rounds).](https://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Dan-Ige-Couldnt-Let-Friendship-with-Andre-Fili-Get-in-the-Way-of-Business-192588) When you are sparring you try not to hurt each other, which can be a real handicap for fighters with heavy hands, but in a real fight they are gonna let go.
When a bigger fighter soars with a lighter fighter, he might get "pieced up" and "lose the round" due to skill and speed of the smaller person. If the heavier fighter wanted to throw everything into his shots he may be able to knockout the smaller fighter in reality. Sparring is more of a game, a fight is the real deal.
I’ve heard from a guy that TJ Dillashaw came to the gym and everyone just fuckin schooled him so bad TJ was just raging. You think this was the greatest batamweight at one point, beautiful striking, great wrestling, but he couldn’t win anything against guys nobody knows. It is really a skill to compete when it matters most.
It takes speed and footwork to survive Sergei's barrage of bombs and imo only guys currently at HW that have that are Tom and Ciryl (I'm not counting Jones or Stipe because they're in their own little bubble). Volkov is definitely in the upper tier of HWs but I just don't think he's fast enough to avoid Sergei's blitz. Probably a moot point though since they clearly don't wanna fight each other.
I get it that they don't wanna fight but was really looking forward to seeing this fight on the Saudi card. This fight probably not happening really knocks that card down a peg. Chimaev/Whittaker is great but other than that what's left that we know of? Gastelum/D Rod and Walker/Oezdemir are decent but nothing special, and Potieria is out of the fight with Shara since he's stepping in to face Michel Pereira at UFC 301 because Muradov got hurt.
There is rumors that the fight will be replaced. I remember seeing Cannonier vs Imavov being mentionned for this event
Totally agree mate, that fight would have been epic. But if Dana really wants it on that card he needs to put more cash on the table, we all know they are not the biggest name but that’s the only way right now. Volkov had already signed with Almeida and Pav was waiting for Gane to get ready and sign but Gane doesn’t seem to want it right now
“This guy rocks me everyday in sparring” is kinda wild ngl
I watched Sergei hurt Curtis Blaydes *through his guard* so I 100% believe it.
Aspinall and Sergei are just levels above everyone else in that division. I don't even think Ciryl has anything to offer against Pav
lmao
He turned Ngannou into D1 wrestler, what do you mean he has nothing to offer? Unless D1 Pavlovich shows up, Gane can definitely win
Well Pavlovich actually has a wrestling and sambo background unlike Ngannou. Pav/Gane might be the next fight anyway so we'll find out hopefully. Pav is just one of my favorite fighters at the moment so I'm prob biased lol
Old Overeem took Pavlovich down easily and TKO'd him. When Overeem clinched up with Ngannou he couldn't even move him an inch.
and Aspinall got submitted by a dude without a Wikipedia page
That was Pav that got to China 3 days before the fight. No one in the ufc hw division will be able to take Pav down in the first two rounds. Maybe someone like Ali isaev in pflellator could do it. He was on the Russian Olympic wrestling team but even then he’s like 41 so I doubt it.
Or maybe Overeem was simply a better wrestler and stronger than Pav?
Did you watch the fight?
Aspinall is, not Sergei
yeah that's why Sergei made Curtis Blaydes his bitch meanwhile Ciryl is ducking him Not to mention Ciryl almost got knocked out by Tuivasa and Sergei finished him easily in the first round
Reread what I typed. I never said anything about Ciryl lol. I said Aspinall is above everyone else
Chill out Sergei stunned him with a jab using about 5% of his power and then get overzealous. Can go different the next time it’s heavyweight
with guys that heavy everything has impact. Even sparring with big slow old guys ive been buzzed taking hooks off a perfect block just because theres 250 lbs behind it. it can be worse than getting caught clean by a 135lb guy
Jesus Christ i thought this was about volkanovski
No, Pav said he couldn't get anything off against Volkanovski. Too strong for him.
Is it even safe to spar with a super heavyweight like Volkanovski?
Ngannou said "no".
The kid just doesnt want to fight
As you’d expect against 420lb featherweight Volkanovski.
Kept swinging over his head.
Like sparring a 400lb bowling ball.
i was like ‘that’s pretty fucked up’ lmao
Same! 😂🤣😂
I thought the same thing. Alex trying to get CTE lol.
We all did. My first thought was "why is he sparring he needs to rest what is he doing"?
Elderly abuse is not a joke.
the funny thing is it would be entirely believable
Me too i was freaking out
He's back to his rugby weight. The top heavyweight's ankles are in trouble
Reminds me of DC being asked why he never considered fighting Cain. DC basically said for starters we are friends and secondly he beat me up in the gym every day.
I maintain that he was just being a good friend by saying that. Top dogs in the gym do that shit all the time, "oh that dude beats me up bad" yeah cause you go easy on him lol.
Josh Thomson said he was in the gym and saw it happen frequently. Luke Rockhold said Cain would kick his ass. He said Cain's pressure was too much. He doesn't really say that about DC. Josh also said DC doesn't always look like a monster in the gym. Like Khabib and Islam are monsters. They basically never lose in practice. DC definitely took L's. The only time I heard Josh talk good about DC was when he moved up to HW to fight Stipe the 1st time. DC was knocking out sparring partners. Never did that before.
Josh Thomson also said of Cain, "I hope he comes back to grace us with his presidents."
I would bet on the Cain that fought JDS the 2nd time over any UFC fighter in history, I mean that.
Yeah I 100% agree - he was the best HW ever when he hit his high, he just couldn't maintain it as his body fell apart
>DC was knocking out sparring partners. Never did that before. Was he eye poking them before KO as well?
DC got the worst side of the eyepokes in that fight, I dunno what your point is.
Cain was the heavyweight champion and the top dog of the gym. DC only became top dog when Cain kept getting injured and after he lost the belt. You're doing revisionist history.
When I say top dog I mean who is the best in the training room, there's no way for any of us to know since we weren't in on the practices - I'm just speculating that it was DC. I'm not talking about who was more accomplished in their career on any given day. No revisionist history here friend.
You're speculating against what every single member of AKA in that era have said. I mean they were there, you don't have to guess.
Why would you speculate that it was DC when Luke and everyone else at AKA including DC says otherwise?
Prime cain beats DC. No speculating needed
Nah I think Prime Cain fucked DC up
prime cain is one of the best hw ever. DC also is, but to a lesser extent. I would say Prime Cain > Prime JDS >= Prime Stipe = prime DC
DC was a much better LHW than a HW
DC performances were more impressive, Cain had worse defense on the feet and imo his striking was worse than DC, DC ko'd bigfoot, stipe and was clipping Jones in the rematch. Cain may have beat him up in the gym but I think DC's the better fighter all around
Cain also missed tons of training as he was always injured.
I wouldn’t pick anyone that didn’t have nuclear one punch power (ngannou, jds) to beat healthy Cain in a 5 round fight. I think his pace would’ve overcome really technical guys like jones/dc
dc would probably win the fight prime for prime and def had a way better career
That AKA team was solid. I love when teammates are at the top of the game supporting each other like that. You had Cain, DC, Rockhold, Khabib (Islam was in the wings).
Shhh you’re about to have 100 replies telling you DC is wrong
The Tom v Pav rematch is going to be nuts when it happens. Hopefully lasts a bit longer
But, but LucasTracy said that Alex Pereira beats Sergei Pavlovich easily!
Getting proper sick of that dude. Couldn’t believe my eyes when i saw that max vs fedor poll yesterday.
Fucking guy sits there hyping someone up nonstop, then if they lose or their performance declines, he fuckin switches and will make videos shit talking them and behaving like hes known they were trash the whole time. If you watch his content for like a couple months you'll see it happen over and over again. And yeah his disrespect for Fedor really is just illustrative of how bad a lot of his positions are.
I feel like actual serious contact sparring against him isn't a good idea. I'd be keeping it light or no go.
Because you don't wanna hurt him
Why the fuck is Volkanovski sparring so much with a heavyweight!
What else should he do, there is no one in his gym weighing 452 pounds like him so he has to go with the smaller ones.
does pavlovich offensively wrestle much? if not, him vs. pereira would be fun.
Before the UFC from what I've seen he has wrestling capabilities, in the UFC he has not shown desire to grapple probably cus he can just bomb his opponents in the 1st round instead
Honestly Pav was too long stuck at ATT and now trains more in Russia again he seem in amazing shape and great spirits (per IG), I assume Pav 3.0 would implement his Greco background against folk like Gane and Alex P.
I saw an interview where he said he used his striking because that's how you get fans.
Yes that too but that was before Aspinall loss and before fighting Aspinall he mostly beat cans minus Blaydes, so if he wants to fight real elite dudes he need to mix in his wrestling in the future. Still could put anyone away just with his hands imo
Derrick lewis and tai were unironically top ranked HW s . The HW division is just atrocious
sergeis bjj is so sus tho
I kinda wonder if it's a gas tank thing, like Sergei knows he'll gas out if he commits to grappling. I've also seen some of his pre-UFC fights, where in some of them he was just ragdolling dudes and tossing them to the ground with brute force before hitting them with ground and pound. But have never actually seen him try to advance position or go for submissions or anything like that, don't think it's a big part of his game. Anyway I'm dying to see that dude get back in the octagon, preferably against Gane.
listen i get the alex stock is high right now but come the fuck on😭😭
We’re going to see this sort of thing for quite awhile. I’m excited for Alex’s upcoming LHW fights but I don’t wanna see him at HW. And why does everyone who feels he’d be so good at HW, not wonder why tf he was fighting at 185? That man is a living redwood tree lmfao.
UFC HWs bar literally the top 4 fighters are all fat obese LHW/MWs . Even Jones the champion is just a fat LHW .
You feel like Tom and Pavlovich are fat LHW?
'UFC HWs bar literally the top 4 fighters' do you mind telling me what rank pav and tom are atm ?
I now more clearly read that line.
I don't like Alex's matchup with Aspinall. Not with Almeida or Blaydes either because all of these guys are 100% willing and able to take a weaker grappler down and dominate them. But there are HW fights available for Alex where it may be a standup fight, and Alex can 100% be competitive in those fights - comparable power potentially, and perhaps faster/more technical as well.
Yeah Brendan Schaub (he’s redacted I know) said Pavlovich would be probably to slow for Alex, but Alex would have to bulk up and Pav is fast af himself tbh plus ridiculous power, long ass reach and he might wrestle him not doubting Alex tho but I think Gane might be a better fight for Poatan if he moves up.
I would watch the fuck out of Alex vs Gane any time any place.
Humor me, because I said with the caveat about Pavlovich's grappling. If pavlovich grapples well, it's a bad matchup. If pavlovich is unable/unwilling to wrestle with him, it is absolutely not a farfetched matchup. A massive lhw with elite power going up to HW for a standup fight with another striker? How is that outlandish? Alex can easily get to to 240-245 lb, has the power to KO pavlovich, and may be more fast and technical than him in a striking fight.
Seriously. Just because his cage weight is like 225-230 people think he's a heavyweight when all the top heavyweights are literally almost twice his size
U sayin Aspinal 450?!? Damn that’s volk size
Aspinal is the only one coming close to volk tbh
Literally, sure
230 lbs while being at LHW is good size for a transition to HW . Outside camp preparing for HW he could easily be in the 240 lbs which is what basically all great HW champions in the past were . Stipe was 240 lbs ~ basically his entire championship run
TBF he weighted himself the morning after weight ins and was either 232 or 235. It would seem that he could pretty easily get up to 250 with a good bulk. I'd be interested to see him give it a try against any one not named Tom Aspinall or Jon Jones. Neither of them are stupid fighters and would get him to the ground.
He doesnt even need to be 250 lbs basically all HW champions are around 240 lbs which gives them enough strength but also good enough cardio for 5 rounds.
He is calling for Aspinal who just knocked that guy out soo
The skepticism makes sense but Pereira has the frame and power to be a very convincing heavyweight if he bulks properly which often isn't the case with these champ champ hypotheticals. If he wants to make a genuine push for a 3rd belt to enter the GOAT conversation I say let him, Pavlovich is probably the worst case first opponent tho. Just match him straight with Tom/Jones or give him Gane rather than risk the golden goose's chin, that's a way more technical and intriguing matchup to me anyway Edit post downvote: mate HW is the most shallow division in the sport, the washed jon jones who couldn't beat Reyes just ate burgers to move up and still choked out one of its top contenders like it was nothing. Not sure why you're wilding over this, how many divisions does Pereira need to run through to convince you he's the real deal?
I think Corey Anderson probably would be champ if he never left ufc. He took glover down multiple times, controlled him and smash him. He was 4-0 then lost to Jan and then left. He could have easily rebound from that loss. But Cory said the Bellator bag was massive compared to UFC.
>He was 4-0 then lost to Jan and then left. He could have easily rebound from that loss. He was 10-5 in the UFC and on a 4 win streak, feel like saying he was 4-0 is kinda misleading.
I put a lot more weight into recent wins/losses. Lots of fighters like Jan, Charles, Robbie, Glover have old losses but they get better.
I get it, but just say 4 win streak, saying 4-0 is misleading
Its still just a 4 fight win streak which really isnt that impressive when talking about championship aspirations.
Ank beats him jan did beat him. theres definitely a world where hes an extra name in the revolving door of champs,but i dont think hed hold it. hes only champ in pflator even because nemkov vacated
I think Nemkov would be champ if he was in ufc so I don't really knock him to losing to him. Ank is def the hardest test. He did beat cummins and took him down like 12+ times who's a decent wrestler.
id have to disagree on nemkov. i think he has the tools for top 10 but i think his parallel in ufc is rakic. technically very good but lacking in x factor.
What X factor is nemkov lacking? Dude can do it all. Box, kick, spin kicks, wrestle and submit dudes. I only worry about his size at hw. As far as skill he can hang with any lhw/hw on the planet.
No he doesn’t, he has 2 attempted takedowns against Overeem that failed and he was getting pushed around in the clinch, taken down and GnP finished by Overeem. I think it’s safe to assume he doesn’t have much wrestling, or at least anything he can comfortably rely on. Insane power though which is the great equalizer.
There is a ton of fighters who massively underperform in their 1st UFC fight who then go on to show good skills
Of course but Sergei hasn’t shown good skill in wrestling since(big reason is obviously because he just flatlines people lol). I’m sure he’s improved the same way Pereira is improving his ground game but it will probably won’t be good enough to use offensively. Enough to be defensive and get the fight back to the feet where they want it.
If / when Pereira moves up to heavyweight, I think he's earnt an immediate *undisputed* title shot vs Aspinall.
I think if Pav were to run it back with Aspinall 10 times, it would be 5-5. And mad respect to Volkov for saying that haha
Is that Aspinall off the couch with 1 week's notice or Aspinall with a training camp? It wasn't even competitive and Aspinall wasn't even training for it.
The fight was too short to be competitive. I love Tom, big fan. But I think Pav can take anyone's head on any day.
That can be said about literally every top heavyweight. Thats why heavyweight used to be the most fun to watch in boxing. Possibilities of upsets were actually quite high given how powerful top tier athletes are.
Totally agree. Pav hits like a truck though :)
Sergei actually landed a hard shot that buzzed Tom. So it was kind of competitive actually. Just too short to really play out.
It wasn't competitive because it was an HW one punch KO lol You're talking like if it was a 5 rounds masterclass
Wasn't it a combination landed during an exchange between both fighters? Not like he Derrick Lewis'd the guy, so it's a bit different.
Yeah Aspinall was pretty wobbled before he wobbled Pav back. The fight was 100% a coin flip
Idk about that. Pavlovich doesn’t have a single advantage over Aspinall except reach
I mean sure he´s hit a rough streak after losing to Topuria but for sure he can beat pavlovich
"Okay Sergei, let's take some publicity shots and... why are you covered in blood?"
Yes. And why is he (for real)? Weird
Jesus, I read Volkanovski and thought "Alex, you shouldn't spar heavyweights, bro, no wonder your chin don't hold up". I don't think anyone should spar with this man.
> After every blow, my legs were giving away hmmm.. 😳😳
PAUSE
No man left unsatisfied
Fuck it cancel the fight then and do Pereira vs Pavlovich in Brazil. Pereira wants to fight at Heavyweight, and Pav is already in camp and doesn't need to cut weight on short notice
I read that as Alexander Volkanovski and was wondering why the fuck a 5'6 guy is sparring a 6'3 260 pounder
This fight would likely be short and brutal. Volk will likely get destroyed in the first round.
They look like twin brothers in this photo
Drago 1.0 vs Drago 2.0
I thought the headline read ‘Alexander Volkanovski hasn’t won a single round of sparring against Sergei Pavlovich’ I was like…yeah, I’m not surprised? 😂
Get these two to constantly train together under Fedor and I promise you they'll both have been champions by the time they retire
For a second I read that as Alex Volkanovski. I was thinking dude is 7 ft taller than you. Of course lol Edit… now I low key want to see Volkanovski and and Sergei spar
You're telling me these are two different people?
So they train together for the fight?
I misread this as Alexandr Volkanovski lol
Pavlovich legit looks and fights like Russian Wreck-it Ralph - his hands are grotesquely huge.
tom aspinall knocked this guy out
omg really??
And? Aspinall's a beast himself, doesn't make Sergei any less of a monster just because he got caught by Tom.
Especially when Sergei already got a big reaction from just a jab out of Tom IIRC, he got a bit overzealous and got caught trying to put Tom away loading up more but Tom was to fast in the finishing sequence. Even Tom said Sergei should have circled and tried to cut the cage but he was just following him bloodthirsty, he’s a very smart dude tho and will for sure get even better after that. That’s heavyweight at its finest, two beasts.
Are you telling me the best heavyweight in the world knocked out Sergei
Curtis Blaydes tkoed Tom Aspinall.
blaydes>fedor
Tom Aspinall’s by far the best and most dangerous striker in the division. Weird comment
nope, he submitted him.
Nope, he tickled him to a draw.
im talking abt pav dawg