{"id":838,"date":"2023-01-20T12:07:12","date_gmt":"2023-01-20T13:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/?p=838"},"modified":"2025-06-20T10:52:55","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T10:52:55","slug":"rogan-talks-up-scary-russian-heavyweight-threat-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/20\/rogan-talks-up-scary-russian-heavyweight-threat-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Rogan talks up \u2018scary\u2019 Russian heavyweight threat"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UFC pundit and podcaster discussed the prospects of the big-hitting Sergei Pavlovich<\/strong><\/p>\n

Russian UFC heavyweight Sergei Pavlovich is a “scary dude”<\/em> whose current form could propel him to title contention, according to Joe Rogan. Pavlovich is undefeated in his last five fights – all of which have ended via first-round knockout.<\/p>\n

“I’ll show you what I’m interested in,”<\/em> Rogan said in a conversation with UFC welterweight Belal Muhammad on his podcast<\/a> this week. “What I’m interested in at UFC heavyweight: Pavlovich is the boy. Sergei Pavlovich, that motherf**ker, that’s the Russian Francis [Ngannou]. He comes out guns-blazing on people, just like Francis used to.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Pavlovich is ranked third in the UFC’s heavyweight standings – a division now without a ruler following the departure of former champion Francis Ngannou after his contract dispute with the promotion.<\/p>\n

UFC president Dana White announced last weekend<\/a> that former light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones would return to contest the vacant heavyweight title against France’s Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 in Las Vegas on March 4.<\/p>\n

Rogan admitted that the match-up was an “interesting”<\/em> one, not least considering that Jones hasn’t competed in the UFC for three years while Gane is a former title challenger who was beaten by Ngannou 12 months ago.<\/p>\n

However, Rogan added that the recent exploits of Pavlovich – who continued his streak of destruction with a brutal finish against Tai Tuivasa<\/a> in December – made him the one to watch in the division.<\/p>\n

\n
\n Pavlovich boasts fearsome power.<\/p>\n


\n \u00a9  Jeff Bottari \/ Zuffa LLC <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“That motherf**ker [Pavlovich] can bomb. He’s fast, very good, very good… The Tai Tuivasa fight was incredible. You think about Ciryl Gane going through that war with [Tuivasa], Sergei just put it on him,”<\/em> said Rogan.  <\/p>\n

“His boxing is really tight, real power punches, excellent technique. A big guy too. This dude is scary, he can crack. He’s interesting, I want to see him fight more.<\/em><\/p>\n

“To me, with Francis leaving, he’s one of the most interesting guys at heavyweight, if not the most interesting guy at heavyweight. I am very interested in him fighting a guy like Jon Jones, that’s crazy to me,”<\/em> added Rogan.<\/p>\n

Rogan suggested that if Jones could get past the formidable figure of Gane and then beat former heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, a meeting would Pavlovich would be the next logical step for UFC matchmakers.<\/p>\n

Jones, 35, is stepping up to heavyweight in a bid to join an elite group of two-division UFC champions. Despite his numerous controversies, Jones is widely considered among the greatest UFC fighters of all time. The only blemishes for Jones in a 28-fight professional career came in 2017 when his bout with Daniel Cormier was later ruled a ‘no contest’ for a doping violation, and in 2009 when he was disqualified against Matt Hamill for illegal elbows.<\/p>\n

Pavlovich, 30, has lost just once in his 18-bout professional career. The Rostov fighter was stopped in the first round of his UFC debut by Dutch veteran Alistair Overeem, but has since bounced back with five first-round victories which showcased his formidable power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UFC pundit and podcaster discussed the prospects of the big-hitting Sergei Pavlovich Russian UFC heavyweight Sergei Pavlovich is a “scary dude” whose current form could propel him to title contention, according to Joe Rogan. Pavlovich is undefeated in his last five fights – all of which have ended via first-round knockout. “I’ll show you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=838"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":844,"href":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838\/revisions\/844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vegacelis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}