Sergei Pavlovich Tapped as Backup Fighter for Jones-Miocic UFC 295 Headliner

When it comes to main events involving Jon Jones, the Ultimate Fighting Championship is leaving nothing to chance.

Prior to UFC 285 this past March, the promotion made certain it had a top contender available to make weight and compete should Jones or Ciryl Gane fall out of their main attraction. That fighter was Sergei Pavlovich, and he hit his proper marks and ended up watching from the stands the next day. First reported by Igor Lazorin, the organization is doing this for Jones’ next title tilt atop UFC 295, and Pavlovich (18-1) is once again the man on standby. This news has since been confirmed by multiple outlets.

Russia’s Pavlovich last competed in April, where he decimated Curtis Blaydes in just over three minutes to put himself in the top echelon of the heavyweight division. Pavlovich’s lone career defeat came in his UFC debut to Alistair Overeem back in 2018. Since then, Pavlovich has crushed the competition, stringing together six consecutive first-round knockouts over growingly impressive competition. As a pro, the Eagles MMA rep sports an 83% knockout rate, having secured 15 of his 18 victories in the very first round.

UFC 295 goes down on Nov. 11 inside of Madison Square Garden in New York. Heavyweight kingpin Jones will put his belt on the line in his first defense against former champ Stipe Miocic atop the billing. The co-main event has not yet been made official, and only three other fights are currently listed on the lineup: a middleweight rumble pitting Derek Brunson against Roman Dolidze, a strawweight clash of Jessica Andrade vs. Mackenzie Dern and a flyweight tilt when Joshua Van faces Kevin Borjas.