The UFC has finalized a big time heavyweight fight for next month. The promotion announced today that surging heavyweight prospect Tom Aspinall (10-2) will be taking on Sergei Pavlovich (14-1).
The matchup will take place at the UFC‘s Fight Night on September 4th. Originally, this card was supposed to take place in London, however, the promotion has shifted gears and the fight will take place in Las Vegas.
For Pavlovich, he will be making his fourth appearance in the UFC. He made his debut back in 2018 and at the time he was undefeated. In his first fight he took on the legend, Alistair Overeem.
Overeem was able to stop Pavlovich in the first round to hand Pavlovich his first loss. Since then, Pavlovich has picked up two UFC wins over Marcelo Golm and Maurice Green. He was supposed to take on Ciryl Gane last August, but had to pull out of the fight.
This will be Pavlovich’s first fight in almost two years. His last UFC contest came back in October of 2019. When he makes the walk in a few weeks, Pavlovich will be holding the 15th ranking in the heavyweight division.
UFC’s Top Heavyweight Prospect?
You can make the argument that the top prospect in the UFC’s heavyweight division is Tom Aspinall. The British heavyweight is ranked 13th currently but he has all the skills to become a future world champion.
In July of last year, Aspinall finally made his UFC debut against Jake Collier. Aspinall was able to score a first round knockout in the opening minute. Since then, he’s scored back-to-back finishes.
Most recently, Aspinall fought former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski back in February. Aspinall was able to score a second round submission finish that came on the heels of him dropping the former champion.
This fight against Pavlovich is going to be a good test for Aspinall. The UFC has a lot of faith in this guy and originally they wanted him to fight in front of his home fans in England. However, he will be competing in Vegas, but this is still a massive opportunity.