Tuivasa’s loss to Ciryl Gane
in September may have stopped the Australian’s surprising charge
towards the heavyweight title, but “Bam Bam” was not hurt much
otherwise and should remain in the picture for years to come.
Tuivasa checked all the boxes upon his 2017 UFC debut as an
entertaining knockout artist with some sneaky athleticism and an
outsized personality, so it was not a surprise when the promotion
quickly tried to make him its next star Down Under. However, that
also threatened to ruin Tuivasa’s nascent career. He got knocked
out in a main event against Junior dos
Santos, looked flat against Blagoy
Ivanov and then was out-wrestled and submitted in what seemed
like a sure rebound fight against Sergey
Spivak. That left Tuivasa firmly on the cut line heading into
his 2020 fight against Stefan
Struve—a win via first-round knockout that was also the first
sign of some much-needed progress. Tuivasa is far from any sort of
technical marvel, but he showed a bare minimum of patience and
thought that paid plenty of dividends given his natural durability
and power. Tuivasa’s 2021 campaign saw him go undefeated with three
knockout wins, which in turn led to a breakout victory over
Derrick
Lewis in February. The fight devolved into a slugfest, but
Tuivasa’s second-round knockout was a huge high-profile moment
against what had been one of the heavyweight division’s most
consistent threats. Given Tuivasa’s fan appeal, it was a bit
disappointing to see the UFC subsequently match him against Gane
for the promotion’s debut in Paris. It seemed like a fight Gane was
set to win and not in particularly inspiring fashion, given his
potential ability to outmaneuver and pick Tuivasa apart for five
rounds. Gane did walk away with the win, but Tuivasa did about as
well as could be expected. He nearly knocked Gane out in the second
round and forcing him into a shockingly exciting fight before the
Frenchman scored the knockout. Given all that, Tuivasa still should
be well-positioned as a fan favorite who just needs a win or two to
get back in the title picture, though this fight against Pavlovich
could go either way. A former Greco-Roman wrestler, Russia’s
Pavlovich fought a surprisingly strong level of competition in the
leadup to his UFC debut, enough so that it was not outlandish when
the promotion tried to debut him with a splash against Alistair
Overeem. That proved to be too much too soon, but Pavlovich
regained his hype in short order with quick knockouts of Marcelo
Golm and Maurice
Greene, looking ready to make another charge up the ranks
heading into 2020. Instead, injuries, visa issues and the pandemic
left Pavlovich out of action for two calendar years, though he has
made up for lost time upon his return this year. A win over
Shamil
Abdurakhimov in March resulted in another quick knockout, and
Pavlovich also scored a breakout win over Lewis—in his case with a
55-second knockout in July. That bout against Lewis quickly turned
into a coinflip with both men trading knockout shots, and this
should play out similarly. Pavlovich prefers to just march forward
and trade, while Tuivasa should be a willing dance partner. From
there, this fight clearly could go in either direction. Pavlovich
gets the nod thanks to his ability to mix in some wrestling and the
fact that he should be the first one to start trading, but the only
confident call is that there should be a quick knockout. The pick
is Pavlovich via first-round knockout.
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