With all eyes on UFC 300, UFC President Dana White stole the show by announcing the UFC Saudi Arabia card. Made with no hints prior, it is safe to say that the announcement caught the fans by surprise. With that said, the surprise extended over to the fighters as well.
For those unaware, the UFC finally revealed their highly touted Saudi Arabia card. Following suit with their TKO partners WWE, the promotion will finally make its first-ever trip to Saudi Arabia. As such, for their first-ever showing in the country, the promotion announced an absolutely stacked fight night card with Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev in the main event.
Our #UFCSaudiArabia card is starting to come together 👊
It will be nothing short of ✨spectacular✨#RiyadhCalendar | @RiyadhSeason pic.twitter.com/KQ0HwrYCsc
— UFC (@ufc) March 28, 2024
Further, the card also includes Kelvin Gastelum vs Daniel Rodriguez, Johnny Walker vs Volkan Oezdemir, and Shara Magomedov vs Ihor Potieria. Easily a PPV-level card so far, it also features Sergei Pavlovich and Alexander Volkov in the co-main event. However, despite it being a banger fight on paper, it is seemingly set to be canceled from UFC Saudi Arabia.
Will Sergei Pavlovich vs Alexander Volkov at UFC Saudi Arabia get canceled?
For the most part, the fans were reveling in joy after the announcement of the UFC Saudi Arabia card. With the leadup to UFC 300 being less than ideal and the follow-up UFC 301 not showing too much promise either, the announcement gave the fans a lot of hope. With that said, recent developments might take some of that away.
According to reports, Sergei Pavlovich and Alexander Volkov‘s teams want their fight to be canceled. In a recent press release, a source claimed that the two fighters are on good terms and have trained together as well.
So Volko and Pavlovich train together, don’t want to fight, and had no clue the bout was being announced…. More bullshit from the UFC announcing fights without seemingly even asking fighters if they are willing to fight each other. This will be canceled. https://t.co/Lhs4rxqM3N pic.twitter.com/A6dErT5WJf
— Val Dewar (flyweight enjoyer) (@the3els) March 30, 2024
“Volkov and Pavlovic were not going to fight each other, they are on good terms, periodically train together. Such a fight is only possible if it is a [title] challenger or title fight. Volkov also already had a contract in hand for a fight against Brazilian Jailton Almeida. Now there will be negotiations between the league and managers to have the fight between Volkov and Pavlovic canceled.”
Thus, it all points to the UFC booking a fight without letting the fighters know in advance. Notably, this is something that we’ve seen in recent times with similar complications ahead of Dustin Poirier vs Benoit Saint-Denis at UFC 299. However, in this instance, the UFC Saudi Arabia fighters are also reportedly friends.
Alexander Volkov was meant to face Jailton Almeida at UFC 302
For the most part, ahead of the UFC Saudi Arabia announcement, Alexander Volkov’s next fight was already confirmed. According to numerous sources, the fighter was signed on to fight Jailton Almeida at UFC 302 on June 1, 21 days prior to the UFC Saudi Arabia event. Notably, the aforementioned fight would have made a lot of sense for the rankings as well.
Following his win over Tai Tuivasa, Alexander Volkov was placed #6 in the heavyweight division. As for his proposed opponent, Jailton Almeida, fresh off a loss to Curtis Blaydes is placed #7. Thus, a matchup between the two made all the sense in the world. According to sources, the bout was signed and agreed upon by both parties. Currently, it is being reported that Jailton Almeida will still be fighting at UFC 302, with a new opponent set to be revealed later.
Alexander Volkov will fight Jailton Almeida at #UFC302 on June 1st. (first rep. @leoguimaraesmma) #UFC #MMA #UFCESPN #UFC2024 pic.twitter.com/8C3brymiRW
— Marcel Dorff 🇳🇱🇮🇩 (@BigMarcel24) March 26, 2024
The earlier announced fight between Volkov and Almeida was 100% legit I got told. The UFC made a switch. Almeida is expected to remain on #UFC302. New opponent TBA.
— Marcel Dorff 🇳🇱🇮🇩 (@BigMarcel24) March 28, 2024
In the meantime, many have suggested that Pavlovich was meant to take on Ciryl Gane, who reportedly turned down the fight. As such, the UFC unknowingly assigned Pavlovich’s fellow countryman against him instead. According to the Russian fighters’ camps, the two will not face each other, unless its a title fight. Thus, all signs point to the UFC Saudi Arabia co-main event getting canceled and an opponent swap for both fighters instead.
