Sergei Pavlovich Knocks Out Cold Curtis Blaydes, Becomes a Legit Contender

Sergei Pavlovich knocked out Curtis Blaydes in the opening round of the UFC Fight Night 222 main event. With this victory, the Russian cemented his place in all the title talks, and if the projected bout between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic falls through, Pavlovich will undoubtedly be the first guy in the line to participate in the battle for the heavyweight belt.

Everything was done after 3:08 inside the octagon, Pavlovich KOd Razor, with Marc Goddard interrupting his flurry of punches with the American kneeling on the mat. His left jab was a nice setup before the ultimate few hits, of which a strong uppercut was the one that sent Blaydes on the ground.

https://twitter.com/Doclayu/status/1649945070756327424

This wasn’t the first time Blaydes was rocked in this battle, as Pavlovich did the same in the early opening, but the American managed to pull himself together and continue the fight. He even managed to inflict a few strikes on Pavlovich and, in some situations, slow him down, but ultimately, that didn’t have too much of an effect.

Blaydes had a takedown attempt, but Pavlovich easily rebuffed that surge. Many expected to see this more often because Blaydes is one of the best wrestlers in the division, while on the other side, the Russian’s skills on the mat are modest or at least untested.

“Big respect to Curtis Blaydes,” Pavlovich said. “He’s great. But somebody was saying he was going to easily take me down. What are they saying now?”

The current no.3 in the UFC heavyweight rankings has six straight first-round KO wins in the UFC, which is a current record. He is tied second with Don Frye for the most consecutive KO stoppages, with the only one having more than them, Chuck Liddell.

For the moment, the hype around Pavlovich is getting bigger and bigger due to his spectacular victories. His time spent in the octagon is a little less than 2:23, the absolute record in the UFC. It’s why the fans love to watch this guy who isn’t into tactics and strategy too much, but likes to enter an open brawl in the center of the ring.

After losing to Overeem on his UFC debut, Pavlovich beat Marcelo Golm, Maurice Green, Shamil Aburakhimov, Derrick Lewis, and before ls night’s one, Tai Tuivasa, whom he KOd after only 54 seconds.

Sergei Pavlovich just casually playing slots before his fight tonight pic.twitter.com/cYH8JsXZBL

— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) April 22, 2023

On the other side, Blaydes suffered his fourth loss in his MMA career, all via KOs. After suffering the same fate against Derrick Lewis, he defeated three rivals in a row, Rozenstruik, Daukaus, and Aspinall, and this was a chance for his comeback to the elite. Razor will definitely need to do something to improve his skill set in order to reach the title fight.

He is still one of the best fighters in the organization, but he can’t take that one step forward, which would make him a legit contender. Just to remind, his other two defeats were against Ngannou, both via KO.

As for the same, for the moment, the UFC is eyeing the clash between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic, but nothing has been confirmed officially. There are some speculations about the fight happening this summer, but nothing more than that. Pavlovich needs to wait for this situation to resolve first and only then make his plans.