Spare worth its weight in gold: why the fight with Blades is the most important in Pavlovich's career

The last year was a breakthrough in the career of Sergei Pavlovich.

By 2022, many managed to write off the heavyweight due to the fact that he did not appear in the cage for more than two years.

But over the next nine months, the Russian fighter won three of the brightest victories and burst into the ranks of the strongest representatives of his division in the UFC.

Crushing knockouts in battles with Shamil Abdurahimov, Derrick Lewis and Tai Tuivasa elevated him to the third line of the rating and made him one of the contenders for the title - in the opinion of not only fans, but also matchmakers.

This was confirmed by two announcements received in recent days.

Firstly, Pavlovich's fight with another top category, Curtis Blades, was officially announced.

And with a high degree of probability, it is his victor who will next get a chance to compete for the trophy.

Secondly, Sergey was named a substitute for the main fight of UFC 285, which will determine the new king of the most prestigious division of the championship.

The second event is at least no less significant.

After all, it makes it clear: the leadership of the promotion highly appreciates Pavlovich and already now considers him one of the main contenders for the belt.

Although he is not ranked high on the list, behind both Cyril Gan and Stipa Miocic, who in theory is still eligible for a rematch as a former champion.

But if in most cases the application of a fighter as a reserve is only a formality, then in the case of Pavlovich, everything is not so simple.

After all, the tournament in Las Vegas will be closed by none other than Jon Jones, who became famous not only for his series of 17 victories in a row, but also for his extremely problematic character - the American is as talented as he is unreliable.

Surely, the league bosses are still not completely sure that he will enter the octagon at the right time, and therefore they want to play it safe.

After all, earlier, because of Jones, not only fights broke down, but entire shows were canceled.

This was the fate that befell UFC 151. Then Dan Henderson was injured and could not fight the best light heavyweight of the organization at that time, and he himself refused to go against Chael Sonnen.

Thus, with a certain development of events, Pavlovich will fight for the title in the coming weekend.

And this may be a good option for him, because it is extremely difficult to prepare for the Russian.

He is very good in boxing and will have excellent chances in the first minutes against both Jones and Gan.

Yes, the difference in condition will subsequently affect, and in the case of John, in wrestling skills.

But the element of surprise can still play a role.

But even if this does not happen this week, it may happen towards the end of 2023.

After all, on April 22, Pavlovich will fight Blades in the main fight of UFC Fight Night 223, which will be held in Las Vegas.

For the Russian, this will be an important event, because he has never led a UFC tournament before.

The closest he came to this was in November 2018, when he fought in the second most important fight at the show in Beijing.

But that experience can hardly be called successful.

Already in the first round, he lost to Alistair Overeem by knockout and suffered the first defeat of his career.

Then the reason for the failure was precisely the difference in wrestling skills - and it is this aspect that can once again prevent him from succeeding.

After all, the main strength of Blades lies precisely in the ability to translate and keep opponents on the ground, simultaneously inflicting heavy blows on them.

This was felt by the same Abdurahimov, and Alexey Oleinik, and Alexander Volkov.

In fact, Curtis can be called a real thunderstorm for the Russians, because he had never lost to them before.

And if Pavlovich has not improved his grappling skills, then the same fate may well await him.

Of course, he will have a chance to hit the Blades, but you should not hope that there will be many of them.

The American is unlikely to play by the rules of the opponent and exchange in the standing position, but will immediately try to get to the feet.

And the outcome of the fight will depend on how well Sergey can defend against these attacks.

According to Pavlovich himself, it can be concluded that he is currently paying great attention to this.

After the victory over Tuivasa, he himself reminded Daniel Cormier, who interviewed him, how during the joint sparring in the AKA, he "did not let him get up from the canvas."

And this once again confirms how much he is aware of his strengths and weaknesses and what attention he pays to eliminating shortcomings.

And if he manages to block takedowns with high quality, then the duel with Blades will be much easier than it seems now.

There are prerequisites for this.

Pavlovich currently trains with American Top Team, and if his social media photos are to be believed, several Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu belt holders Thiago Santos, Filipe Lins (both black) and Augusto Sakai (brown) are helping him train.

Working with such experienced specialists will certainly have a positive effect on his ground skills and help him approach the battle with Blades fully armed.

And if Pavlovich succeeds, then only two events can prevent him from fighting for the title in the very near future - an injury to the newly-made champion or the return of Francis Ngannou.

In the first case, he will either have to wait until the belt holder recovers, or fight for a temporary title, in the second, he will have to give way to the former trophy owner.

But while nothing is known about the intention of the Cameroonian to restore relations with the UFC, he demands fabulous fees for the fight according to the rules of boxing and, according to Scott Cocker, is in parallel negotiating with Bellator.