Top 10 Heavyweights will clash next year.
Today (Mon., Oct. 28, 2024), MMAMania.com has confirmed with multiple sources that No. 4 ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight contender Sergei Pavlovich will fight No. 9 seeded Jairzinho Rozenstruik on Feb. 1, 2025, which will take place inside Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Pavlovich (18-3) is riding the first two-fight losing streak of his career and is coming off an upset loss to Alexander Volkov earlier this year during UFC’s first trip to Saudi Arabia. Before his loss to Volkov, Pavlovich was knocked out by Tom Aspinall for the interim UFC Heavyweight at UFC 295 (watch highlights).
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Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
On the other hand, Rozenstruik (15-5) is riding a two-fight win streak and has a chance to jump into the Top 5 rankings. Rozenstruik is coming off a unanimous decision win over Tai Tuivasa at UFC 305 (even though a judge tried to get him to lose). Prior to UFC 305, “Bigi Boy” ‘fraud checked’ Shamil Gaziev at UFC Vegas 87.
Only one other fight has been announced for UFC Saudi Arabia: Ikram Aliskerov vs. Andre Muniz.
MMAMania.com can confirm that Saudi Arabia will be getting a pay-per-view (PPV) event at some point in 2025
To checkout UFC’s upcoming schedule of events click here.