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Sergei Pavlovich has set his sights on the winner of Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic after his win against Curtis Blaydes at UFC Vegas 71 this past Saturday. The Russian fighter dealt with who was thought of as the toughest test of his UFC tenure thus far in Blaydes, who was expected to ‘easily’ get Pavlovich to the ground.
However, all of Blaydes’ attempts to do so were thwarted, and Pavlovich found a home for an uppercut that sent ‘Razor’ to the canvas. Pavlovich swarmed, and a few follow-up punches led to the first-round finish.
Sergei Pavlovich wants to wait for title shot
Ahead of their fight, Blaydes said that with a win against Pavlovich, he would ‘wait’ for his first UFC championship opportunity. Now that the script has flipped and he has a win against Blaydes, the 30-year-old says he is going to wait for his chance at UFC gold.
That would come against the winner of Jones vs. Miocic, the UFC heavyweight championship fight expected to happen near the end of the year.
“I’ll rest,” said Pavlovich during his post-fight press conference. “I’ll eat. I’ll sleep. I’ll rest some more. I’ll wait.”
For Pavlovich, Jones vs. Miocic is a ’50-50’ fight, so he has no preference in who wins. All Pavlovich wants is the winner.
“I wouldn’t say that either of them would be an easy fight,” said Pavlovich. “I mean, they’re both hard warriors, so I would have to prepare for whoever it is, then be ready for whoever they give me.”
UFC president Dana Whites gives update on Jones vs. Miocic
UFC president Dana White recently provided an update on when he expects Jones vs. Miocic to happen after ‘Bones’ hinted at a return at an upcoming event at Madison Square Garden.
“As far as I know everything is good and hopefully, we have a fight with him and Stipe very soon. That’s where we’d like to do it,” said White during his post-fight interview at UFC Fight Night: Holloway vs. Allen.
Jones won the then-vacant UFC heavyweight championship with a first-round submission of Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 this past March. The reigning champion then called out Miocic, who he declared the ‘greatest heavyweight of all time.’
“Y’all want to see me beat up Stipe?,” said Jones. “One thing I know about the UFC is we give the fans what they want to see. Stipe Miocic, I hope you’re training, my guy. You’re the greatest heavyweight of all time, and that’s what I want. I want you. Real bad.”
Miocic has not fought since suffering a second-round KO loss to former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou at UFC 260 two years ago.
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