Daniel Cormier has given some advice to Sergei Pavlovich.
In the main event of UFC Vegas 71 last Saturday, Pavlovich took on Curtis Blaydes in a big fight and it was the Russian winning by first-round TKO. After the win, Pavlovich said he would wait for the title shot, and now Cormier has given him some advice. According to Cormier, he wants Pavlovich to wait for the title shot but also be the backup fighter for Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic which is targeted for November.
DC’s Advice to Sergei Pavlovich
“I weigh in, and I sit there as an alternate [if I’m Pavlovich],” Cormier said on DC & RC. “I don’t know if I fight again because against Ciryl Gane, nobody knew it, but he was the alternate. So he sat there, made the weight, and then when Jon [Jones] and Ciryl fought, he was just out. But he got paid some money. You don’t wanna risk letting your money dry up. You still get paid along the journey while you still may get an opportunity to fight the champion.
“Here’s the thing about those backup fighters. In most cases, especially at heavyweight, if he’s scheduled to fight as a backup, and Stipe and Jon are fighting, if Jones falls out, the fight will be off,” Cormier added. “If Miocic falls out then they will just slide him in, so he’s not gonna fight Stipe for the belt. He would fight Jones for the belt, so he could prepare as if he’s getting ready to fight Jon Jones and have himself ready to fight him in case he gets the call.”
According to Daniel Cormier, he thinks anything else but a title shot is fighting backward for Sergei Pavlovich which doesn’t make sense for him.
“I would do that because anything else now would be fighting backward,” Cormier said. “Even fighting Stipe would be fighting backward for Sergei Pavlovich, and I don’t know if right now he needs to do that.”
Pavlovich is currently on a six-fight winning streak with all his wins coming by first-round knockout.