On November 11 at UFC 295 a heavyweight title fight will take place between the organization’s current champion Jon Jones and former belt holder Stipe Miocic. An announcement that divided the sports community into two camps. Representatives of one are looking forward to the fight for the status of the highest heavyweight in the UFC, and representatives of the other believe that Russian Sergey Pavlovich should have been in Miocic’s place.
The Jones-Miocic fight is, if anything, highly anticipated and one of the brighter announcements this year. After defeating Cyril Gan, John only said that he dreamed of fighting Stipe, so it was foolish to think that the UFC would not meet its main star and organize a duel that would arouse great interest among the audience. The question is: does Stipe deserve a title shot at this point?
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Of course, Miocic is a legend in this sport. He set a record for heavyweight title defenses, defeating such monsters as Alistair Overeem, Junior dos Santos, Fabricio Werdum, Francis Ngannou, Daniel Cormier. Stipe’s record inspires respect, but now we must focus not on past victories, but on the current state of affairs. Miocic will fit into the fight with Jones at a respectable age, and his downtime will be two and a half years. Also, in his last fight, Stipe flew into the hardest knockout of Ngannou, and it is unknown how he managed to recover from this.
And on the other side of the scale is Sergey Pavlovich, a Russian hero who surprises everyone in the UFC. Sergey has six wins in a row, and all of them were won by knockout in the first round. Pavlovich is ranked number one, has already clinched a heavyweight title fight between Jones and Gan, and is long overdue for a belt fight. But the Russians will have to wait. Probably, John, in the event of a victory over Miocic, will retire and leave the belt vacant, then Sergey will definitely fight for him.
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Meanwhile, the UFC again left the Russian hero out of the title race, betting on Miocic, paying tribute to Stipa’s merits and following the lead of its main star Jones. It’s fair? If we take the sports component, then, of course, no, Sergey should have been in Stipe’s place. But the UFC has long been not only about sports, so one could already get used to such turns of events. The famous Russian wrestler Ivan Shtyrkov is of the same opinion.
“If we talk about Sergey Pavlovich, then I think he now poses a much bigger threat to Jones than Miocic, but we should have gotten used to such games in the UFC by now. Now Sergei himself must make a choice: sit and wait for the title, idle and not earning money, or continue to demolish everyone and grow as a fighter. It all depends on his decision. Both options have advantages and disadvantages,” Ivan Shtyrkov said in a conversation with the “Championship” correspondent Igor Nekrasov.
Solidarity with Shtyrkov’s position is another Russian mixed martial artist, Vyacheslav Vasilevsky, who also sees Pavlovich as the main contender for the heavyweight title.
“Now in high spirits from his dominating wins, and with so much euphoria, he could beat Jones. The fact that he was taken and set aside is not a very good development for him. This is probably not entirely correct. Pavlovich is now a much more logical contender, because Miocic has not fought for a long time and he would have to fight or two to get back to his condition, and then fight for the belt, ”Vasilevsky said in an interview with the Yahya Championship correspondent. . Gasanov.
Oleg Taktarov, in an interview with Metaratings, spoke even tougher, summing up the situation and mentioning Alexander Volkov: “As I expected, Jon Jones was given a fight not with Sergey Pavlovich, but with Stipe Miocic. I see the chances in this matchup as 50/50. They are both smart fighters, but at the same time they are quite old. Jones already closed his gestalt by winning the heavyweight title, and he won’t be as motivated for the next fight. At the same time, Miocic is highly motivated to win back the title in a fight with such an opponent.
But at the same time, Alexander Volkov and Sergey Pavlovich are extremely dangerous for both of them, so they will avoid meetings with the Russian heavyweights for as long as possible. They will arrange three or four fights among themselves, realizing that [эти поединки] they will sell better and take less damage than two Russian decks. Why put your head under this? A normal person will not climb under these tanks. Therefore, Jones and Miocic will use all the verbal tricks to avoid clashes with the Russians.
