Sergei Pavlovich and Alexander Volkov were not aware of their fight at UFC Saudi Arabia, according to reports 

According to the recent announcement from the promotion, Sergei Pavlovich and Alexander Volkov are set to battle it out in an intense heavyweight showdown at UFC Saudi Arabia in June.

However, according to a Russian MMA media outlet, both individuals were reportedly unaware of the bout at the time of its announcement, causing conflicting reports.

The announcement for the event included a heavyweight matchup, which will be featured as the co-main event. It will be joined by four other fights, including the main event between middleweight title contenders Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev.

Red Fury MMA, a prominent MMA outlet, released a statement on the internet stating that both Pavlovich and Volkov’s management teams were unaware of the fight being announced. The statement reads:

“Sergei Pavlovich’s team, as well as Alexander Volkov’s team, are surprised by the official announcement from the UFC about the fight against each other in Saudi Arabia.”[Translated from Russian]

Refer to the post below:

This is not the initial instance in which the promotion has faced criticism for prematurely announcing a fight.

Despite the promotion announcing the fight, Paulo Costa clarified that he had not signed a contract to face Robert Whittaker at UFC 284 in 2022.

The UFC website currently features two scheduled fights for the June Saudi Arabia event, potentially supporting the claims of Red Fury MMA. However, the lack of response from Pavlovich and Volkov leaves the situation in a state of uncertainty.

Who was Sergei Pavlovich’s most recent opponent?

Sergei Pavlovich’s most recent fight was in November 2023 against Tom Aspinall in the co-main event of UFC 295.

The pair fought for the interim heavyweight championship after Jon Jones was unable to compete due to injury. The original main event was supposed to feature ‘Bones’ against Stipe Miocic for the undisputed heavyweight title.

Fans were anticipating an explosive showdown when the top two contenders for the shortest average UFC fight time, Aspinall and Pavlovich, faced each other in the octagon.

The duo lived up to their expectations as they engaged in an exchange of strikes for less than a minute. However, the Mancunian delivered a powerful punch that caused his opponent to fall to the ground. The referee then stopped the fight and declared Aspinall as the victor.

After the clash, the new interim champion took to Instagram and shared the following post:

“I love this sport”

View Aspinall’s post following his victory over Sergei Pavlovich below.