Joe Rogan labelled UFC Shanghai star the ‘Russian Francis Ngannou’ during historic knockout streak

Joe Rogan praised Sergei Pavlovich

Sergei Pavlovich made history by scoring six consecutive first-round knockouts inside the UFC Octagon.

The Russian heavyweight stopped Derrick Lewis and Tai Tuivasa inside 60 seconds during his KO streak.

Before the final win of his run against Curtis Blaydes, Joe Rogan raved about Pavlovich’s fighting style.

“What I’m interested in at UFC heavyweight [is] Pavlovich,” he said in January 2023.

“That’s the boy. Sergei Pavlovich, that motherf—er, that’s the Russian Francis [Ngannou]. He comes out guns blazing on people just like Francis used to do. That motherf—er can bomb. He’s very good.

“The Tai Tuivasa fight was incredible. When you think about Ciryl Gane going to war with him, and Sergei just put it on him. His boxing is f—ing tight. Very tight, man. Real power punches, excellent technique, and a big guy, too. A big, heavy f—.

“That f—ing dude can crack! He’s interesting. I want to see him fight more.”

What’s next for Sergei Pavlovich?

Tom Aspinall KO’d Sergei Pavlovich in 69 seconds to end his winning run at UFC 295 in November 2023.

Since then, the 33-year-old Russian has suffered a unanimous decision defeat against Alexander Volkov.

Pavlovich returned to the win column by edging out a ‘snoozefest’ with Jairzinho Rozenstruik in February.

He’ll look to pick up another victory when he squares off against Waldo Cortes-Acosta on Saturday.

They’ll fight on the main card of UFC Shanghai, which will be headlined by Johnny Walker vs. Zhang Mingyang.