Russian heavyweight Sergei Pavlovich lost in the fight for the UFC championship title to Briton Tom Aspinall

Sergei Pavlovich missed the chance to become the first ever domestic champion of the UFC, the main mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion, in the heavyweight division. In the fight for temporary champion status in New York, the Russian knockout artist, already recognized as a phenomenon, himself encountered a puncher’s epiphany that visited the British Tom Aspinall, and lost in the first round.

The defeat that Sergei Pavlovich suffered in the legendary Madison Square Garden as part of the UFC 295 tournament was probably very painful for him due to the context. This year, Pavlovich has already been recognized as a mixed martial arts phenomenon. Having made his UFC debut in 2018 with a loss to the famous Dutchman Alistair Overeem, Pavlovich, having gotten used to the level of the promotion, then won six victories in a row. Everything is a knockout. Or rather, all by knockout in the first round. Over cool opponents. They talked about him as a unique puncher, who in this sense is no worse than Francis Ngannou, who escaped from the UFC, who recently nearly killed the outstanding boxer Tyson Fury with his blow. And such a phenomenon simply insisted on some kind of formal reward.

She seemed to float into the hands of Sergei Pavlovich. In fact, other American heavyweights were supposed to fight in New York – Jon Jones, who won the championship title this year, who recently topped the ranking of the best fighters regardless of weight category (now from the top line of his shifted Russian Islam Makhachev, lightweight champion, up to 70 kg), and Stipe Miocic. But Jones suffered damage to his pectoral ligaments, and the UFC decided to give him the opportunity to recover and later have a fight with Miocic, without depriving him of the title for a layup, but at the same time playing out the so-called temporary in a fight involving Sergei Pavlovich and another fighter from the top of the classification .

At the same time, it is quite obvious why Pavlovich was rated higher than his opponent before the fight. It’s not just his special talent. Something else is even more important.

Pavlovich was the official alternate on the show. That is, the UFC from the very beginning provided for an option in which he would have the opportunity to enter the Octagon.

Consequently, the Russian carried out almost full preparation for the fight. And the same certainly cannot be said about Tom Aspinall. The Briton learned that he would fight in a fight of such a high rank, with such a dangerous opponent, only a little over two weeks before the event.

But the reality differed sharply from the forecasts. Tom Aspinall, throughout his rather bright career in the UFC (in which his only defeat was to Curtis Blaydes in July last year, and that was accidental, due to a knee injury) proved that in MMA there are few fighters equal to him in terms of versatility and flexibility . And it was completely unclear what he would bet on in the fight with Sergei Pavlovich. The temptation to assume that they would fight, to neutralize the striking power of the Russians, was great.

However, Aspinall surprisingly easily agreed to fight in a standing position, essentially in enemy territory.

And it seemed that he had made a fatal mistake, because, having missed a prickly low kick, Pavlovich tested the Briton with weighty blows to the head, which clearly caused problems for him.

But then something completely unexpected happened. These holes did not make Tom Aspinall cautious. He still stayed close to his opponent, showing that he didn’t mind taking risks. And the risk paid off quickly. Pavlovich, aiming at the target, gaped slightly for a moment, and then a British fist slammed into his temple. Then he stabbed him again, and Pavlovich collapsed on the floor, no longer able to defend himself and forcing the referee to record an early knockout, just a minute and nine seconds after the start of the fight. This is a happy puncher’s insight, according to ESPN, guaranteed Aspinall a quick fight for a full championship title: he will hold it after the match between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic takes place. It threw Pavlovich away from him, but apparently not so far. Whatever one may say, the UFC is apparently obliged to give such an extraordinary fighter a second chance.

Alexey Dospehov