LAS VEGAS – Sergei Pavlovich welcomes Curtis Blaydes’ pursuit of takedowns in the UFC Fight Night 222 main event.
Going into Saturday’s heavyweight headliner, which takes place at the UFC Apex and streams on ESPN+, the strengths of both men are quite obvious. Pavlovich (16-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) is a devastating knockout specialist, while Blaydes (17-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC) has found the majority of his career success by taking his foes to the ground.
Defensive grappling proved to be a flaw for Pavlovich in his UFC debut in November 2018, when he suffered a first-round TKO loss to Alistair Overeem. Since then he’s recorded five consecutive first-round knockouts, but unless he can get the job done quickly again, he’s likely to face some takedown attempts from his opponent.
