Athletes
Playful Sergei Pavlovich Prepared For War
Heavyweight Contender Charms Ahead Of Return Bout With Tallison Teixeira
When standing in the corner, waiting for a fight to commence, Sergei Pavlovich looks like the mixed martial arts version of the stereotypical menacing Russian enforcer from classic ‘80s and ‘90s action movies — built from granite, emotionless, and clearly dangerous; ready to pummel our leading man into oblivion and more than likely to start down that road before the hero manages to get the upper hand and avoid ruination.
His efforts in the Octagon largely affirm the visual impression as well, as the 34-year-old has amassed an 8-3 record and once collected a record-setting six straight first-round knockout wins that included vicious finishes of Derrick Lewis, Tai Tuivasa, and Curtis Blaydes. Even in his last two wins, which have come by decision, Pavlovich has played the part of the dominant force, earning clear victories over Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Waldo Cortes Acosta to cement his standing as a Top 5 talent in the heavyweight division.
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But there are moments where the perennial contender shows his mischievous and playful side too, like when he posted an image on his Instagram account last month with a message for his opponent this weekend, Tallison Teixeira, asking fellow heavyweight Valter Walker to serve as an interpreter and share his thoughts with the Brazilian, which “The Clean Monster” did without hesitation.
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“He seems like a young guy, a little bit of a hot head, likes to get into brawls, and I’m the kind of guy that likes to get into brawls as well,” Pavlovich said with a smirk earlier this week when asked about the social media offering.
The post, which features the third-ranked former interim title challenger awaiting the start of a fight, looking as focused and scary as described above, with an insert of Teixeira in the upper righthand corner, contains a quote, in Russian, which Walker translated into Portuguese in the comments. It reads:
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“You are asking for a war… be ready — it will end soon. Review your plan.”
He then tagged Teixeira, increasing the chances that the Dana White’s Contender Series graduate received the message.
“Usually, people like to avoid getting into brawls with me because they know it doesn’t go too well,” added Pavlovich, explaining his reasoning behind throwing down the gauntlet at Teixeira’s feet. “I saw that he came out with (some comments), so I figured maybe I’d change the tactic a little bit and send him a warning.”
Welcome my 34 years! pic.twitter.com/J49HaQpBSU
— Sergei Pavlovich (@SPavlovich13) May 13, 2026
The matchup, which lands in the middle of the main card of this weekend’s UFC Fight Night event at Galaxy Arena in Macau, was a somewhat surprising pairing when it was first announced, given where each man currently stands in the hierarchy and the respective resumes.
While Teixeira got back into the win column earlier this year with an exhausting decision win over Tuivasa in Sydney, the 26-year-old is just 2-1 in the UFC after claiming a spot on the roster with a win on Season 8 of the Contender Series. Prior to his bout with “Bam Bam” at UFC 325, the towering Brazilian had never been out of the first round, and the totality of his UFC experience was 70 seconds — 35 seconds of work in each of a win over Justin Tafa and a loss to Lewis.
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As for Pavlovich, he was the man tabbed to battle Tom Aspinall when the interim title was last introduced at UFC 295 and remains a fixture in the title conversation. Additionally, his last appearance was a “there are levels to this” win over Cortes Acosta last August, before “Salsa Boy” turned a pair of November victories and his own win over Lewis into a chance to face Alexander Volkov earlier this month at UFC 328, where the division’s other dangerous Russian contender secured the victory.
But in reading the lay of the land and having already been out of action for nine months after undergoing nasal surgery following his most recent win, Pavlovich knew it was time to return to action and wasn’t too pressed about fighting backwards in the rankings for this time around.
“There is a little bit of a traffic jam for everybody who is above me, ahead of me in the rankings,” he said. “So that’s why I accepted the fight with somebody who is quite a lot below me, because I wanted to make sure I got a fight in, got stuff moving.
“With the traffic jam solving itself out, everybody is gonna fight each other, and we’ll see what shows for us.”
The other piece of it is that right now, Pavlovich kind of feels like the forgotten man in the division, as Cortes Acosta’s mini run of success and the emergence of Josh Hokit have overshadowed the totality of what he’s done and where he stands in the rankings.
In stepping in with Teixeira this weekend, the decidedly charming Russian is looking to deliver a statement effort and remind everyone that he remains a serious threat at the top of the heavyweight division.
“You took the words right out of my mouth,” he said when presented with that hypothetical scenario, flashing another warm smile and laughing.
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And how does he expect to make said statement?
“I’m always prepared for the fight, no matter what it is,” began Pavlovich. “Obviously, people expect a knockout, I would like a knockout, but a knockout is a thing you cannot plan for; it happens unexpected.
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“This is obviously something that you want — you want to finish the fight, you want to get that dopamine, you want to get that experience, you want to get those emotions — but that’s not what I’m preparing for.
“I’m preparing for a hard fight, for a war, for a gruesome fight, and we’re gonna make sure to come out there and show what we’ve prepared for.”
Pavlovich has certainly reviewed his plans; we’ll see Saturday night in Teixeira got the message to do the same.
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