With all the hype Pavlovich has been getting (well deserved) its important to take a look at the origins of the Pavlovich prototype and where it was first seen. It was first seen in Japan in the Pride ring many years ago. Almost 20 years ago to be exact. Pride had REEL Russian bangers with REEL hands and REEL sambo 17 years ago. Basically the Pavlocich prototype everyone is hyped about today. The hype is desrevee and Pavlovich is awesome but what he brings to the table in terms of SKILL is nothing new and not a product of evolution.
Aleks was was 6'5 250lbs with lightning fast hands and KO power with slick footwork and he had YEARS of training grappling with prime Fedor. Sergei was a 6'4 240lb paratrooper who could have boxed in the Olympics and also spent years training Sambo with Fedor and with masters like Volk Han. He had insane toughness and fighting spirit and fought Werdum and Big Nog on the ground during their grappling primes and never came close to being submitted. Both of these guys were in their 20s and in their PRIME and throwing down toe to toe with skill and big PAUER much like Pavlocich does.
Not only were they throwing down hard but they were also demonstrating skill and control. It never looked like they were wild or sloppy. Each shot they threw was thrown with meaning and purpose. They had clean footowrk and adept movement.
Aleks was light on his feet and setting up his shots with feints and snappy jabs and he was landing lightning fast right hands. Sergei was moving forward like a tank and rolling with shots and using an educated jab until he eventually found his mark with the right hand and dropped Aleks and immediately mounted him. Getting mounted by Sergei while being rocked was a DANGEROUS PLACE. Look what he did to Schilt. Smashed his face witb hammer fists until Schilt started grunting like a dying animal.
Aleks stayed cool and tied Sergei up and somehow surived and scrambled out of mount and regained his guard and eventually got back up where the the two bangers squared off again. Aleks measures Sergei and hits him with a sniper like right hand and stuns him and Sergei puts on his poker face and tries to reel Aleks in to brawl and Aleks cracks him with the same right hand again and sends Sergei down, diving for his legs after getting visibily hurt and ends up giving up position to Aleks. Aleks put him in a dagestani handcuff and finishes Sergei EASTERN PROMISES prison shower scene style with grounded knees to the head late into the 10 min first round.
The way Aleks dropped Sergei was nice but the way he finished the fight was even more impressive. He held Sergei in the Dagestani handcuff position while kneeing Sergeis skull to China. This technique is used by guys like Khabib and Bader (recently used it on Fedor) and newer fans marvel at this technique like it's something new but its actually nothing new. As you can see Pride HWs were using this move on the white rings of Pride 18 years ago.
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When you understand the striking skill and grappling skill that these guys had in depth you understand that these men were SKILLED and their skillsets transcended the so called "EVOLUTION" theory which U FIGHT CHEAP stans push to diminish the guys from the past. Their skills would be VALID today nearly 20 years later.
Aleks and Sergei were either equal to or more skilled than guys like Lewis, Tuivasa, Gane, Jarzino and Volkov depending on the match ups. They would be in the top 5 in the UFC today and they would be potential title contenders just like Pavlovich is which is remarkable considering they were at their best almost 20 years ago.
In Pride they were top 10 HWs trying to prove themselves. Let that sink in. It's important to study these fights in the heavies where the narrative is that men didn't know how to fight until the UFC bought Strikeforce. It's simply Dana White stan shill talk. These guys would have been throwing down on the highest level today, ALL DAY.
Another Russian banger from those days who was similar to Aleks and Sergei was Roman Zentsov who was good but he wasn't quite as good as them but he still had crazy knockout power in both hands and also spent years training his grappling with Fedor, Sergei and Aleks. I think he could have easily banged with the Lewis and Tuivasa types of today. All day.
The HW division in those days was skilled and the HW division of those days was DEEP. Roman wasn't even in the top 10. He wasnt even in the top 15 which is wild. You had multiple Pavlovich prototypes in those days PLUS the top dogs like Fedor, Nog, Cop, Nett, Werdum, Hunt, AA, Tim, Ricco, Mir, and Randy and dangerous fringe top15 guys like Coleman, Randleman, Gary, Fujita, Igor, Herring and Schilt lurking.
It's really important for U FIGHT CHEAP fans of today to understand that when it comes to the HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION, they are watching a WORSE PRODUCT, featuring less skill and less depth. It doesn't mean the HWs today suck, it just means they're not as good. Hope you enjoyed my thread.
