Heavyweight finishers Tai Tuivasa and Sergei Pavlovich will throw down in December.
Tuivasa (15-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) takes on Pavlovich (16-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) on Dec. 3 at UFC Fight Night, which takes place at Amway Center in Orlando, Fla. The matchup is expected to co-headline the event.
Two people with knowledge of the booking informed MMA Junkie of the matchup Tuesday but asked to remain anonymous since the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
Tuivasa is coming off a knockout loss to Ciryl Gane at UFC Fight Night 209 in Paris. “Bam Bam” became the first man to knock down Gane but was unable to get the finish. Their back-and-forth battle earned Fight of the Night. Prior to that, Tuivasa scored five straight knockout wins, including stoppages of Augusto Sakai and former title challenger Derrick Lewis.
Since dropping his lone career loss to Alistair Overeem in his UFC debut, Pavlovich has won four fights in a row all by finish. In his most recent appearance in July at UFC 277, Pavlovich needed just 55 seconds to score a TKO over Lewis.
The latest lineup for UFC Orlando includes:
- Stephen Thompson vs. Kevin Holland
- Tai Tuivasa vs. Sergei Pavlovich
- Derek Brunson vs. Jack Hermansson
- Tracy Cortez vs. Amanda Ribas
- Darren Elkins vs. Jonathan Pearce
- Matheus Nicolau vs. Matt Schnell
- Eryk Anders vs. Kyle Daukaus
- Marc Diakiese vs. Michael Johnson
- Clay Guida vs. Scott Holtzman
- Emily Ducote vs. Angela Hill
- Bryan Barberena vs. Rafael dos Anjos
- Yazmin Jauregui vs. Istela Nunes
