In Tough Style: How Pavlovic got back on the winning track and Shara Bullet lost out

Russian heavyweight Sergey Pavlovich defeated Suriname's Jairzinho Rosenstrike in a bout at UFC Fight Night 250 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Another fighter from Russia, Sharabutdin "Shara Bullet" Magomedov, lost by unanimous decision to Englishman Michael Page, suffering the first defeat of his career with 15 wins. In the main event of the evening, Nassurdin Imavov, a French fighter of Russian origin competing in the middleweight category, defeated New Zealand's Israel Adesanya by knockout in the second round.

In Pavlovic's scenario

Pavlovic approached the fight against Rosenstrike with two straight losses. After a knockout of Tom Aspinall and a bad fight against Alexander Volkov, he needed to regain his confidence and show that he remains a threat to any opponent.

Rosenstrike is a fighter with powerful striking but erratic results. Despite his formidable reputation, he often finds himself at a disadvantage against elite heavyweights - just look at his fight with Francis Ngannou, which ended in 20 seconds. Pavlovic was considered the clear favorite, but the Surinamese is capable of knocking out anyone if he gets the chance. Alistair Overeem, who missed from Rosenstrike at the last second before the siren, won't lie.

Pavlovic was slow to get forward in the opening seconds, even though that's what we're used to seeing from him. Sergey threw out the occasional hand punch, while his opponent countered with kicks. The fighters acted very cautiously, but a minute before the siren Pavlovic hit a shot, dropped Rosenstrike, he stumbled, and they both ended up in the clinch. Pavlovic hit Rosenstrike from the half-guard to take the first five minutes.

The second segment was no less neat than the first. The opponents faced each other, made deceptive moves, but hardly hit anything. Two minutes before halftime, Pavlovic had a great shot, but Rosenstrike also took a punch in return - Rosenstrike cut his nose. With a couple minutes to go, the fighters were back in the clinch, and Sergey continued to work the half-guard - the first and second rounds were almost identical. Pavlovic maintained position, but was not as close to the finish, but he confidently took that segment as well.

The third round followed the same pattern as the previous rounds: careful stand-up work and a transfer to the parterre, where Pavlovic worked from the half-guard. The stands were buzzing, but Sergey continued to bend his line: he hit Rosenstrike and didn't let him get up, that is, he did everything to win the fight. 40 seconds before the final siren, Rosenstrike got up, but immediately missed a hard punch. The two fighters clashed in the final 10 seconds, but the finish never came. There was no doubt about the judges' decision: all three of them gave the victory to Pavlovic with the score 30:27.

- Friends, thank you all very much! I see your support, it's very nice. This is our common victory," Pavlovic said in the video he published in his Telegram channel.

He also answered the question about a possible rematch with Sergey Volkov.

- Is there a desire to fight with Volkov? I never chose my opponents. I will fight with whoever they give me," emphasized Pavlovic at the press conference.

In front of Cristiano's eyes

This fight became for "Shara Bullet" the first in the status of a ranked fighter. His opponent was Michael "Venom" Page, an experienced puncher with an unconventional style that can cause problems for anyone. The Englishman is known for his effective style as well as his extensive experience in Bellator. The fight with Sharabutdin was his third fight in the UFC, having previously defeated Kevin Holland and lost to Ian Garry.

Magomedov is known for his power, aggression and spectacle - it was not for nothing that one of the best soccer players in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo, supported the Russian from the gym. He finished his opponents with spectacular strikes both in Russia and, for example, in his previous fight in the UFC against Armen Petrosyan. Now, however, he was facing a serious test. Before the fight with Page, Shara had fought four fights in the UFC and won all of them, winning three $50k bonuses.

The fight started with active footwork from both opponents and low kicks from Sharabutdin, who tried to slow down Page's momentum. After a couple of minutes, the Brit hit "Charu Bullet" so that he fell on his back - while the knockdown was definitely not there, the Russian seemed to stumble. In the first five minutes Michael looked more confident, he hit more often, and his punches were more dangerous.

At the start of the second round, Paige landed another dangerous punch and seemed to shake Magomedov a bit, but he didn't get knocked down. The Briton pulled Sharabutdin on himself and then counterattacked, doing it spectacularly and dangerously. Shara, on the other hand, couldn't find the right approach to Page. He was hitting mid-kicks, but his opponent wasn't too concerned. 40 seconds before the siren, the fighters got into a clinch, which was initiated by Page, and that's how the segment ended.

In the third round, Sharabutdin became more active, trying to press Page, but he counterattacked well and tried to maintain a comfortable distance. Shara couldn't get close to Page, and when the two fighters did get into a clinch, Magomedov started throwing knee strikes to the body, and the Briton hurriedly returned to distance work in the clinch. A minute before the final siren, Shara hooked his opponent with a left hook and began to throw more combinations, but Page was just waiting for the round to end.

Page won the first two rounds by accentuated punches, and in the third a slight advantage was on the side of Shara. But it had little, if any, effect on the judges' opinion. After three rounds, the judges gave the victory to Page - 30:27, 30:27, 29:28.

- Did Magomedov break under pressure? No," UFC head Dana White said after the fight. - Styles make fights, Page has a very difficult style, he acts in the stretch and counterattacks. And if you don't approach him, the two fighters will just stand there and look at each other. He's just hard to fight. I don't think the pressure has somehow weakened Shara or stalled him. And let's not forget the guy has one eye. That doesn't help the cause.

The defeat was the 30-year-old Magomedov's first in his professional career with 15 wins. The 37-year-old Page now has 23 wins and three losses in MMA.