Sergey Pavlovich has spoken out for the first time about his loss to Alexander Volkov at UFC on ABC 6 last weekend.
Pavlovic was a heavy favorite going into the co-main event match against Volkov in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and while many predicted a quick victory for Pavlovic, Volkov out-maneuvered his opponent over the course of three rounds to win by a landslide unanimous decision.
The normally quiet Pavlovic was seen shoving his former sparring partner after the fight. Pavlovic recently admitted the loss was emotional. The fighter, who has won 15 of his 18 career victories by knockout, believes it was a mistake to try so hard to get another highlight-reel KO.
“Today was not my day. Nothing went as planned,” Pavlovic wrote on social media. “I was prepared for anything but I was too focused on the knockout and took too many unnecessary hits. The result was a points loss. It was very emotional and painful, especially knowing that I couldn’t live up to all your expectations. Thank you all for your support! I promise to come back stronger and smarter.”
Pavlovic’s reaction after Volkov’s loss is not without context. Pavlovic and Volkov were initially against the fight, as they had previously trained together on several occasions. However, neither was willing to back down once the other accepted, and UFC likely took advantage of that to make the move. When the fight was officially announced, Volkov, who knew nothing of it beforehand, believed that Pavlovic had accepted the fight first. Meanwhile, during the fight at UFC Saudi Arabia, Pavlovic accused Volkov of accepting the fight first.
The loss marks Pavlovic’s second straight defeat, following a first-round knockout loss to Tom Aspinall in an interim title fight at UFC 295 in November 2023, which ended a streak of six first-round knockout losses.
