ufc: Is Sergei Pavlovich fighting for the heavyweight championship at UFC 285?

Sergei Pavlovich is not scheduled to compete for the heavyweight title at UFC 285. But according to MMA manager Ali Abdelaziz, his client Pavlovich will serve as a back-up fighter for the main event clash between Jon Jones and Ciryl Gane.

UFC president Dana White recently mentioned that they had arranged for a back-up fighter for the upcoming heavyweight championship but refused to name the fighter.

"Sergei Pavlovich is the heavyweight backup to this week's UFC 285 main event, per his manager Ali Abdelaziz. Dana White mentioned last weekend there is a backup in place. Pavlovich will weigh-in on Friday in Vegas, per Abdelaziz."

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After a three-year hiatus, Jon Jones will finally make his comeback at UFC 285 and will attempt to attain the status of multi-division champion against Ciryl Gane.

In the co-main event, Valentina Shevchenko will defend her flyweight title against Alexa Grasso.

170-pound contenders Shavkat Rakhmonov and Geoff Neal will battle it out on the main card of the event. In addition, a lightweight banger in the form of Mateusz Gamrot and Jalin Turner will also take place at UFC 285.

Highly credentialed wrestler Bo Nickal will also make his UFC debut that night and compete against Jamie Pickett in a middleweight bout.

Several other prominent fighters like Cody Garbrandt, Derek Brunson and Amanda Ribas will compete at the event.

Joe Rogan showers praise on Sergei Pavlovich

UFC commentator Joe Rogan appears to be in awe of rising heavyweight contender Sergei Pavlovich. In a recent episode of 'The Joe Rogan Experience', Rogan hailed the Russian as one of the most 'interesting fighters in the 265-pound division.

The podcast host compared Pavlovich's punching power to that of former UFC champion Francis Ngannou. He also expressed interest in witnessing a fight between Pavlovich and Jon Jones.

“Pavlovich. That’s the boy. Sergei Pavlovich. That motherf***er. That’s the Russian Francis [Ngannou]. He comes out guns blazing on people, just like Francis used to. That motherf***er can bomb. Very good, very good… He’s to me, with Francis leaving, he’s one of the most interesting guys at heavyweight, if not the most interesting guy at heavyweight. I’m very interested to see him fight a guy like Jon Jones. That’s crazy to me.”

Watch Joe Rogan discuss Pavlovich below:

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Puneet has a total of 2.5 years of experience and specializes in reporting on MMA and boxing for Sportskeeda. He holds a postgraduate diploma in Journalism & Mass Communication, which aided him in his writing skills.

The iconic interim featherweight title fight between Conor McGregor and Chad Mendes at UFC 189 in 2015 ignited Puneet’s passion for the sport. Former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira stands out as Puneet’s favorite MMA fighter as he's drawn to 'Do Bronx's' captivating background story and entertaining persona. He is a believer of MMA being the world’s no.1 combat sport as opposed to Boxing.

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Edited by Tejas Rathi