The run of success landed him an opportunity to challenge for the interim heavyweight title at UFC 295, where he buzzed Tom Aspinall early, but fell soon after. When he returned seven months later against compatriot Alexander Volkov, Pavlovich was a little hesitant and got outworked, returning in a loss on the scorecards.
Earlier this year, the Top 5 fighter got himself back into the win column with a unanimous decision victory over Jairzinho Rozenstruik in Saudi Arabia, winning on the scorecards for the first time in more than seven years.
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“As we know, before that I had two misfortunes, so it was very important for me to get the victory, both mentally and physically, in order to get back on the right path,” Pavlovich said of his win in February, speaking with the assistance of translator Sergey Nagorny just a few days out from his pivotal showdown with Waldo Cortes-Acosta in Shanghai on Saturday.
“Maybe it’s a weird thing to say, but it was a positive effect that they had on me because it was a way for me to take a look into the process, into changing some things, changing the approach, the technique,” he said of the setbacks. “As the saying goes, if something starts breaking, if something doesn’t work, there is a way to fix it.”