This Saturday, the UFC returns to the Apex Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 22 for a heavyweight showdown. The main event will headline Sergei Pavlovich (#3) vs. Curtis Blaydes (#4) as well as some other fun fights up and down the card. If the UFC focused less on the financial side of things, the winner would likely face heavyweight champion Jon Jones. Despite being ranked No. 3 and No. 4, Stipe Miocic is currently second in the heavyweight division and hasn’t won a fight since 2020. Both are winning fight lines at the moment, and have been fighting almost anyone and everyone the UFC offers them to fight .
Sergey Pavlovich (17-1) goes into this fight with a five-game winning streak, with his latest victory by TKO/KO in the first round against Tai Tuivasa. Pavlovich made his UFC debut in 2018 against former heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, but lost to the former champion via TKO/KO stoppage. Since then, Sergei has not looked back, every fight he has been in in the first round ended with a TKO / KO finish. He has beaten top heavyweight competitors such as Marcelo Gollum, Maurice Greene, Shamil Abdurahimov and Derrick Lewis. And now that former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou has departed, there is little doubt that Pavlovich has the heaviest hands in the division. With just five fights in the UFC, Sergey has already broken records in the UFC. The first is “Shortest Fight Time” with a 2:15 average time, and his second is with “Knockdown Avg. Per 15 minutes” with a 6.67 knockout average.
Curtis Blades (17-3) enters this fight with a three-fight winning streak, with his latest victory by TKO/KO in the first round against Tom Aspinall, but Aspinall suffered a torn MCL, torn meniscus, and ACL damage in the first 15 seconds of fighting. Blaydes debuted in the UFC in 2016 against former champion Francis Ngannou, but unfortunately lost due to a TKO by a doctor in the second round. Since then, Blaydes has lost only twice in his UFC career and has won 12 fights in the UFC with seven of the fights won by TKO/KO. He has beaten top heavyweight contenders such as Alexei Oleynik, Mark Hunt, Alistair Overeem, Junior dos Santos, Alexander Volkov, Jirzinho Rosenstroyck and Chris Daukos. Blaydes wrestler is great and probably has the best wrestling in the division, and is capable of taking down anyone. This has led to big wins over the likes of other heavyweights. If Blaydes is able to get an early takedown, there’s a good chance he’ll come away with a victory.
There are also some interesting matches on the main card and Prelims that you don’t want to miss. For the main bout, we have middleweights Brad Tavares vs. Bruno Silva. Originally for the card, the co-main match was to be top contender bantamweight contender Song Yadong (No. 8) taking on Ricky Simon (No. 10). But due to lightweight Renato Moycano (No. 13) having to pull out of the fight against Arman Tsarukyan (No. 8) due to injuries and the UFC being unable to find him an opponent for the main event next week, Yadong and Simon will head up the spot for UFC Fight Night on April 29, in Las Vegas. Lightweights Bobby Green and Jared Gordon will fight on the card this weekend as well as Welterweights Jeremiah Wells vs. Matthew Semelsberger, Women’s Featherweight Karol Rosa (#9) vs. Norma Dumot (#13), and last but not least Heavyweight Mehmet Osman (winner of Season 30). From “TUF”) vs. Junior Tava.
I can’t wait to see all the action on Saturday night. Who did you guys win in the main event? I personally think I’d take Mr. Pavlovich to win this one, the guy reminds me of a real life Ivan Drago.