Tensions flared between Alexander
Volkov and Sergei
Pavlovich following their heavyweight bout on Saturday.
Advertisement
Volkov picked Pavlovich apart from the outside to score a unanimous
decision win in the co-main event at
UFC on ABC 6 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. When Volkov walked up to
his opponent to shake hands after the fight, Pavlovich shoved his
fellow countryman and former sparring partner. Volkov subsequently
revealed that Pavlovich cursed at him, which was out of character
for the heavyweight. Volkov believes it is Pavlovich who has a
problem with him and should be the one to initiate a
resolution.
“To be honest this is the first time really that I ever heard
Sergei curse because he kind of told me to, well I’m not sure what
he said. But basically, I once in a while allow myself to curse,
but this is the first time I heard him maliciously use curse words
in my direction,” Volkov said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “So, I mean if
he’s got a problem, I think it’s probably on his side because I let
the situation go. And if he’s got a problem, he should be the one
to initiate the resolution.”
Volkov vs. Pavlovich initially seemed unlikely to come to fruition
because the former sparring partners did not appear to be willing
to fight each other. However, the consensus between both parties
appeared to be that one wouldn’t back down if the other accepted
the matchup. While the booking was suddenly finalized, no one
confirmed who accepted the fight first until they came head-to-head
at the face-offs. Things appeared to suddenly get heated between
the otherwise quiet fighters, with both parties accusing each other
of accepting the booking first. Volkov has now denied having any
knowledge of the booking at all before it was officially announced
by Dana White.
“I’m gonna try and explain it without sarcasm as it was,” Volkov
said. “When the fight was announced, I found out about the fight
from my American coach Ronny [Markes], who was sitting next to Ali
Abdelaziz and they were talking about the fight. All three of us,
Ronny, Ali and me, we found out about the fight from the
announcement made by Dana White.”
It wouldn’t be the first time the UFC has used such matchmaking
tactics. The promotion allegedly tried to similarly promote fights
such Dustin
Poirier vs Benoit St.
Denis at UFC 299 and Robert
Whittaker vs. Paulo Costa
at UFC 298 without the fighters having officially accepted the
bouts. While Abdelaziz tried to dissuade him from taking the fight,
“Drago” by then already believed that the opposite camp had
accepted.
“When my coach got in touch with Sergei’s team, which was the next
evening it seemed as though, from the words of Sergei, that this
fight was already offered to him,” Volkov said. “That’s what my
coach understood. And Sergei said that, ‘If Volkov says yes then
I’ll also not back out.’ And UFC came up to me and said, ‘Sergei
has said yes if you will.’ Then Ali was trying to approach me and
ask me to not agree to the fight but from what I understand, from
their side there was already an agreement. And I don’t think that
that’s denying the fight or dropping the fight.”