“The lesson I learned is that you shouldn’t come out on short-notice and fight somebody,” Pavlovich said with a smile regarding his UFC 295 experience, just a few days out from making his return against compatriot Alexander Volkov in the co-main event of this weekend’s debut fight card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“I don’t give it much mind, I don’t think about it too much because all this is part of our work,” the Russian began, speaking about the loss through translator Sergey Nagorny. “Obviously, in your work you always want to be successful and you always want to have great moments, but this stuff happens at work, too.
“The only thing you can do is keep working harder, keep learning from your mistakes, keep sharpening your skills, and keep moving forward; that is how you get back to winning.”
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Pavlovich took the requisite time to recover and feel healthy following his knockout loss to Aspinall, laying low for three or four months before working his way back into a normal training rhythm ahead of starting his camp for this weekend’s clash with Volkov.
When the fight was first announced, there were many surprised reactions throughout the MMA community, as most were aware that the Russian heavyweights had trained together in the past and were, at the very least, friendly with one another. Many athletes aren’t particularly fond of fighting their friends, though historically speaking, the real hesitation has arisen when a matchup with an actual teammate has been brought up or put on the table.