Alexander Volkov delivered an impressive three-round performance against Sergei Pavlovich at UFC Saudi Arabia. However, it was what happened after the fight that garnered most of the attention.
Despite stepping into the fight as a sizeable underdog, Volkov nearly doubled the output of his opponent and landed at a significantly higher clip, leading ‘Drago’ to a fourth-straight win in the heavyweight division.
Immediately following the fight, Volkov approached Pavlovich looking to squash any lingering beef between the two Russians.
Pavlovich wasn’t having any of it.
Sergei Pavlovich shoves Alexander Volkov after their fight. pic.twitter.com/cN5JGnXGbk
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) June 22, 2024
Sergei Pavlovich shoves Alexander Volkov after their fight.
After being shoved by Pavlovich, the 6’7″ heavyweight addressed the incident during his post-fight interview.
“I don’t know [what happened], I just come to say, ‘Thank you for a great fight’ and he got mad,” Volkov told Daniel Cormier in the Octagon, adding that “Maybe [he shoved me because of] all the games before the fight.”
Asked about the situation during the post-fight press conference, Volkov revealed that it wasn’t necessarily the shove that he took offense to. It was a vulgar comment that Pavlovich directed toward him.
“I mean I didn’t think it was a nice thing to do from him, I guess he’s mad at me. I’m not really sure why and I would love to figure out why, maybe he just misunderstood something but it’s his fault, not mine. To be honest, this was the first time that I’ve ever heard Sergei curse because he kind of told me to—well I’m not going to repeat what he said—but this is the first time I’ve actually heard him maliciously use curse words in my direction” (h/t Bloody Elbow).
With the Russian knockout artists often occupying the same spaces back home, Volkov was asked what would happen if Pavlovich decided to try and restart their scrap behind closed doors.
“If he tries to attack me, I’ll call the cops,” Volkov added.
Alexander Volkov would ‘really like’ to fight for the title next
With the win over Pavlovich, Alexander Volkov is likely to find himself sitting in the No. 3 spot in the heavyweight rankings come Monday morning, priming him for a long-awaited shot at the division’s top prize.
“Yes, I would really like to fight for the title, but that’s beside the point,” Volkav replied when asked about what comes next. “I am an employee of the UFC and I’m going to have to not go with my wishes but go with what they say is right. There has been an unwritten agreement that that will be the case, but who it’s going to be [against] or where it’s going to be, we don’t really know yet.”
More importantly, Volkov wants to provide the fights that will excite the fans, whether that includes UFC gold or not.
“I would fight the fights that are interesting to the fans, that’s the primary goal,” he added.
