Pavlovich Rebuilds After Aspinall’s Knockout With a Distance Win
Sergei Pavlovich returned to the winning column against Jairzinho Rozenstruik on February 1, 2025. Their heavyweight contest in Riyadh ended in a unanimous decision after three rounds, giving the Russian a successful response to consecutive defeats.
How the story unfolded
The difficult stretch had begun at UFC 295 in November 2023, when Tom Aspinall stopped Pavlovich in the first round to win the interim heavyweight championship. The short-notice title fight ended a run of rapid finishes that had carried Pavlovich toward the top of the division.
Alexander Volkov then defeated him by unanimous decision in June 2024. That result required Pavlovich to regroup after a different kind of setback: a full-distance loss rather than an early knockout, against an opponent with extensive heavyweight experience.
The result and its significance
Rozenstruik presented another established striking threat. This time Pavlovich completed the scheduled distance and secured the judges’ verdict, demonstrating a route to victory that did not depend on the opening-round knockouts associated with his earlier UFC rise.
The dated results give his rebuilding chapter a clear sequence: Aspinall’s championship finish, Volkov’s decision and a subsequent points win over Rozenstruik. Each contest tested a different part of his heavyweight game. The Riyadh victory restored momentum through fifteen minutes of work, providing an actual competitive milestone after the speculation that often surrounds a contender’s return from a damaging defeat.
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Article Tags
Sergei Pavlovich, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, UFC, MMA
