I think Pavlovich's hype train gets derailed on Saturday. Blaydes will smother him.

[650lb Sumo]

I'm a big Sergei Pavlovich fan so it gives me no satisfaction to say this. I also freely admit that he is a lethal finisher on the feet and he could very well spark Curtis in the first round, like his last 5 opponents. I hope I'm wrong and that's what he does. But Blaydes is the best wrestler in the division and Sergei has never faced someone that can do what Blaydes can. The last time he fought someone with good takedowns, Overeem in 2018, he got easily taken down and quickly finished on the ground.

Blaydes has improved his striking and all he has to do is not get knocked out until he gets to the clinch/shot. Unless Pav has radically improved his grappling, if Curtis gets a hold of him I doubt he can stop the TD. It then becomes a question of can he get up, which I also doubt, and if not, can he stall and defend on his back to avoid getting finished, which I think he probably can. Blaydes will probably just hold him down and throw some pitter-patter GNP to prevent the stand up and win the decision. If Sergei reacts like he did against Overeem though he will get finished.

All Pav's exceptional reach, speed, timing, accuracy, distance control and power will mean nothing if Curtis can close the distance and force him to grapple and although Sergei is very good, I don't think he is good enough, or well rounded enough, to avoid or refuse a grappling match. Blaydes's rudimentary but improved striking will be enough to bridge the gap. So Blaydes wins a one-sided decision and fights... Stipe? Gane? or Jones, presumably. Good thing Ngannou is out of the picture because he has already lost to him twice.

 

[infinite666]

And after jones beats stipe he can finally gets his shot

 

[matrixremaster]

Pav has Greco Roman wrestling and Sambo.

Overeem failed TD's against him and only took him down because he landed a big punch first



Pav has more of a wrestling base than Francis who starched Blaydes and Pav has close to Francis level power with better technique.

Blaydes is a way higher level a wrestler than he's faced though so we shall see.

 

[Siver!]

I'm a big Sergei Pavlovich fan so it gives me no satisfaction to say this. I also freely admit that he is a lethal finisher on the feet and he could very well spark Curtis in the first round, like his last 5 opponents. I hope I'm wrong and that's what he does. But Blaydes is the best wrestler in the division and Sergei has never faced someone that can do what Blaydes can. The last time he fought someone with good takedowns, Overeem in 2018, he got easily taken down and quickly finished on the ground.

Blaydes has improved his striking and all he has to do is not get knocked out until he gets to the clinch/shot. Unless Pav has radically improved his grappling, if Curtis gets a hold of him I doubt he can stop the TD. It then becomes a question of can he get up, which I also doubt, and if not, can he stall and defend on his back to avoid getting finished, which I think he probably can. Blaydes will probably just hold him down and throw some pitter-patter GNP to prevent the stand up and win the decision. If Sergei reacts like he did against Overeem though he will get finished.

All Pav's exceptional reach, speed, timing, accuracy, distance control and power will mean nothing if Curtis can close the distance and force him to grapple and although Sergei is very good, I don't think he is good enough, or well rounded enough, to avoid or refuse a grappling match. Blaydes's rudimentary but improved striking will be enough to bridge the gap. So Blaydes wins a one-sided decision and fights... Stipe? Gane? or Jones, presumably. Good thing Ngannou is out of the picture because he has already lost to him twice.

I think Blaydes wins, too, but Pav is a very dangerous opponent.

Fantastic heavyweight fight, IMO.

 

[Skarsgard]

Pav has Greco Roman wrestling and Sambo.

Overeem failed TD's against him and only took him down because he landed a big punch first



Pav has more of a wrestling base than Francis who starched Blaydes and Pav has close to Francis level power with better technique.

Blaydes is a way higher level a wrestler than he's faced though so we shall see.

Lewis starched Blaydes with a monstrous uppercut. Ngannou just dropped him and missed all follow-up shots.
What have we seen out of him to suggest that he has power to match Ngannou though? Sure, he's another heavy hitter, but that may be a bit of an exaggeration.

 

[shh]

Blaydes knocks him out in 1st.

 

[matrixremaster]

Lewis starched Blaydes with a monstrous uppercut. Ngannou just dropped him and missed all follow-up shots.
What have we seen out of him to suggest that he has power to match Ngannou though? Sure, he's another heavy hitter, but that may be a bit of an exaggeration.

He was able to knockout Lewis while Francis couldn't.

I think Francis hits a little harder but not much it and doesn't really make a difference when both guys can end the fight that fast.

 

[AmbassadorFright]

Yeah, I like Sergei a lot and he's a dangerous guy who is always fun to watch but his ground game hasn't really been tested since his debut. As long as Curtis isn't an idiot and doesn't play any stupid games on the feet he wins with his wrestling and control. If he feels like being a striker and gets overconfident he gets sparked early

 

[daPROFESSOR]

I don’t think so. I think Curtis is getting socked up

 

[Viper2]

Blaydes is gonna get starched.

Pavlovich via brutal KO Round 1.

 

[Luthien]

Never bought into the hype

 

[Vegesus44]

After seeing his last fight I think Blades is in for a rough night.

 

[Masturbin]

2Blayde will dominate Lewis and put him in his place. He's just a low tier brawler gatekeeper"

 

[Dorkman]

Lewis starched Blaydes with a monstrous uppercut. Ngannou just dropped him and missed all follow-up shots.
What have we seen out of him to suggest that he has power to match Ngannou though? Sure, he's another heavy hitter, but that may be a bit of an exaggeration.

He’s not quite Francis level power. But it’s very high. So may just be hair splitting

 

[PEDRO IVO RUSSO MIRANDA]

Blaydes by 2nd round tko via GnP

 

[Luckyme]

Pav has Greco Roman wrestling and Sambo.

Overeem failed TD's against him and only took him down because he landed a big punch first



Pav has more of a wrestling base than Francis who starched Blaydes and Pav has close to Francis level power with better technique.

Blaydes is a way higher level a wrestler than he's faced though so we shall see.

Pavlovich trained over at AKA and Khabib has vouched for his greco so we’ll see how that translates against Blaydes in the cage. His wrestling has never been tested until now.

Blaydes own striking has improved. It’s not on Pavlovich’s level of course but he would be wise to avoid standing with Sergey for as long as he traded with Derrick Lewis.

 

[GordonMMARamsey]

He'll either win or end up losing.

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

Pav has Greco Roman wrestling and Sambo.

Overeem failed TD's against him and only took him down because he landed a big punch first



Pav has more of a wrestling base than Francis who starched Blaydes and Pav has close to Francis level power with better technique.

Blaydes is a way higher level a wrestler than he's faced though so we shall see.

The people that parrot Pavlovich was "outwrestled by Overeem" didn't actually watch the fight. Overeem rocked him and tripped him then finished 10 seconds later.

 

[650lb Sumo]

I don’t think so. I think Curtis is getting socked up

Blaydes is gonna get starched.

Pavlovich via brutal KO Round 1.

After seeing his last fight I think Blades is in for a rough night.

I have never been happier to be wrong about a fight! Pav is 100% for real and if he goes on to (T)KO Jones in the 1st round next I won't be surprised!