Sergei Pavlovich is one of the fiercest strikers in the UFC. He holds a phenomenal 18-1 record in professional MMA as of October 2023 with 15 of his wins coming via a KO.
The one and only loss in his record has come at the hands of Alistair Overeem. The Dutch fighter fought Pavlovich at UFC Fight Night 141 in 2018. This was the Russian’s UFC debut after making waves in his home country. However, he suffered a TKO loss in the first round.
In a UFC 295 build-up video released by UFC, Pavlovich delved into the changes he made to his training camp following the first loss of his career. He said, “Before UFC, I fought in Russian promotion Fight Nights. I was the champion, I won the Fight Night’s belt and defended it. I was undefeated but I lost my first fight in the UFC and that is the only loss in my career.
After my fight with Overeem, I became more professional in how I approach my training camps. I completely invest myself physically during training, give every hit of myself in training. I think it is hard work. Hard work always pays off and leads to success.”
Pavlovich made his pro-MMA debut in December 2014 for a Russian promotion called Fight Nights Global. He won his first six fights via a KO in the first round before winning his seventh via a unanimous decision.
Before Pavlovich entered the UFC, he held a 12-0 record and was the Fight Nights Global Heavyweight champion. The Overeem loss, however, turned out to be a small blip as he won the next six UFC fights. He also earned himself an interim title opportunity.
What went wrong for Sergey Pavlovich against Alistair Overeem?
In November 2018, Overeem faced Pavlovich in the Russian’s UFC debut after an undefeated pro-MMA career. Pavlovich started strong and hit a few good early shots as the Dutch fighter was settling in. Overeem decided to step inside and engage in the clinch. Pavlovich broke free but could not stop a big right hand from Overeem.
The Dutch moved straight into a Thai clinch and tossed Pavlovich to the ground. It was a done deal from there as Pavlovich faced a barrage of punches until the referee stopped the match.
At a press conference before UFC Fight Night 222, Pavlovich claimed it was acclimatization to China that caused him trouble. He believed he should have reached the country earlier.
According to Yahoo News, he said “Acclimatization, it was acclimatization. You have to get to China early to get accustomed to its time zone. By no means do I mean that was the only reason for my loss, but after that defeat I realized that I had to arrive to a venue earlier to get acclimatized.”
This could also be another change he brought into his build-up to a fight after the loss against Overeem. Pavlovich might be heading to his fight venues earlier to get acclimatized.
