The UFC announced a fight between Russian heavyweights Pavlovich and Volkov without their consent
UFC President Dana White announced the fight, which is scheduled to take place June 22 at a tournament in Saudi Arabia. Russian heavyweight Sergey Pavlovich will meet another Russian heavyweight Alexander Volkov. And this news caused a huge resonance. Not only did the American League pit two of Russia’s top heavyweights against each other, but the fighters also learned about the fight between them through the news. The contracts for this fight have not yet been signed, but the fight is already being promoted.
KP Sport found out what’s going on with the very strange Pavlovich-Volkov fight.
Volkov and Pavlovich against each other. White officially announced
On June 22, the world’s largest mixed martial arts league will make its debut: UFC will host the UFC tournament in Saudi Arabia for the first time. For such an occasion, the posters should be loud, but it seems UFC President Dana White has gone too far with the wow factor.
White said Khamzat Chimaev would step into the octagon in the evening’s main fight, but a Russian derby was planned for the co-main event: Sergey Pavlovich vs. Alexander Volkov. Russian against Russian.
It seems like this happens sometimes in professional MMA. But the UFC management did not warn the Russians about this fight at all.
Volkov was supposed to fight someone else, but he found out about Pavlovich thanks to the information
A few days before White’s announcement, MMA Junkie published an insider on Alexander Volkov’s upcoming fight. According to him, the Russian was supposed to fight on June 1 at the UFC 302 tournament with Brazilian Gilton Almeida. And then White’s words appeared about the fight with Pavlovich.
— We are very surprised by this news. Sasha found out at night, I found out in the morning. This surprised us. We said that we are ready to face any fight, but in the case of Pavlovich, we are ready to fight for the belt. Our managers now understand the situation,” Volkov’s coach Taras Kiyashko told Metaratings.
Volkov himself doesn’t understand anything at all. On his social networks, he responded to a subscriber who asked him who the fight would end with: “Who the hell knows. »
Alexander Volkov has repeatedly stated that he does not want to fight with the Russians. The exception is a title fight or challenger. There is no escape here. But the next fight with Pavlovich will not be like that. So why is the UFC pitting Russians against each other?
“Neither side accepted the fight”
The possible fight between the Russians was also a surprise for Sergei Pavlovich’s team. The fighter’s representative said that Sergei’s team did not agree with this fight.
— Strange news for us. Neither side agreed to the fight. This is an unclear situation,” quotes the representative of the Pavlovich team at the Championship.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that Pavlovich and Volkov are friends and training partners. Alexander, for example, helped Sergei prepare for the fight with Derrick Lewis in 2022.
The story is so complicated that this fight could easily fall apart. Journalist Igor Lazorin talks about it.
– There is a fairly high probability that this fight will not take place. We are monitoring the situation. Volkov had a contract to fight Almeida, then bam – Pavlovich. The situation of this battle is simple. Volkov basically chose Almeida and did not refuse the fight against Pavlovich. The contract for the fight against Almeida arrived, but not against Pavlovich. It is interesting that the UFC decided to announce this fight so abruptly,” Lazorin wrote on his Telegram channel.
“What, there’s no one to fight with”? Russia unhappy with Pavlovich-Volkov fight
The fight between Volkov and Pavlovich is illogical on all sides. First, fighters are now at different stages of career development. Pavlovich is close to the title and is in third place in the heavyweight rankings. Volkov is further from the fight for the title – in sixth place in the ranking.
Second, Russian fans reacted extremely poorly to a possible fight between Pavlovich and Volkov. And the same goes for current MMA fighters.
— The first thought is: what, there is no one to fight with? It seems like the UFC just doesn’t have anyone to turn to? Okay, this is a common situation in professional sports, ”said Russian fighter Ivan Shtyrkov at the Championship.
In a way, Chtyrkov is right. How many times in the UFC has an American fought an American and a Brazilian fought a Brazilian? There have been many such cases. Why then can’t the Russians lead a common fight?
The question is different: why were the athletes themselves not notified and why was the fight announced without signed contracts?
“It’s disgusting that Russians are forced to fight against each other,” former UFC fighter Oleg Taktarov told SE.
However, this fight is still far away. And the detective story with the fight is just beginning to unfold.
Source: KP
Emma is a professional author and journalist, working at 247 News Update. With years of experience, she brings a unique perspective and in-depth analysis to her work.
