Alexander Volkov is set to take on Sergei Pavlovich in a clash of heavyweight titans at the UFC’s upcoming foray into Saudi Arabia on June 22. The bout is featured as the co-main event for the promotion’s debut in the region. But the fight almost didn’t happen! Volkov was originally scheduled to take on Jailton Almeida at UFC 302, but the UFC decided to pivot and scheduled ‘Drago’ for a clash against Pavlovich at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh instead in a move that both men initially weren’t too keen on. 

According to reports online, the two originally didn’t want to fight each other as they’ve been training partners for a long time and their camps declined the UFC’s offer. However, according to a statement made to RingSide24, Volkov was the one who decided to go forward with the fight as he stated, “my refusal limits are over”. Now, with both men ready to step inside the Octagon come fight night, let’s take a look and learn all we know about Alexander Volkov’s MMA record, his wins, losses, and more.

Who has Alexander Volkov lost to in the UFC?

Alexander Volkov has been competing professionally in MMA since 2009 and previously fought for the M-1 Global promotion and Bellator MMA before making his way to the UFC in 2016.

According to information available on Tapology, his UFC record currently stands at 11 wins and 4 losses. Volkov’s first loss in the UFC came at the hands of Derrick Lewis at UFC 229 in 2018. The fight is also notable because ‘Drago’ was dominating the entire fight almost till the end but he got caught with a ‘Hail Mary’ shot thrown by ‘The Black Beast’ which sent the Russian crashing to the canvas before Lewis closed out the show with vicious follow-up shots.

His second loss came against Curtis Blaydes in 2020 at UFC Vegas 3 where he lost a unanimous decision in the fight despite a valiant effort. Volkov rebounded by rattling off two straight wins but then faced another set-back as he faced former UFC interim heavyweight champion, Ciryl Gane at UFC Vegas 30 in 2021 as he dropped another unanimous decision to the Frenchman to mark his third loss in the promotion.

Volkov then won another fight before he ran into Tom Aspinall, the current interim UFC heavyweight champion who submitted him in the first round of their clash at UFC on ESPN+ 62 in 2022. However, he is now on a 3-fight winning streak with all of the wins coming via a finish. As such, it’ll be interesting to see how he deals with the hard-hitting Pavlovich in Saudi Arabia, considering that both men are familiar with each other’s styles due to their training together.

Has ‘Drago’ lost outside the UFC?

In his MMA career outside the UFC, Alexander Volkov has lost a total of 6 fights. 3 of those came in his time fighting for the M-1 promotion and the other 3 came during his time in Bellator MMA.

The first loss of his MMA career outside the UFC occurred in 2009 in M-1 Challenge against Akhmed Sultanov, the second against Maxim Grishin in 2010, and the third against Pat Bennett in 2010. ‘Drago’ then went on an extended win streak that lasted till 2013 when he was handed his first loss in Bellator by Vitaly Nimakov at Bellator 108 in 2013, where he also lost the Bellator heavyweight world championship.

Stringing together another win streak, Drago faced the first back-to-back losses in his MMA career when he lost his fight against Tony Johnson at Bellator 136 in 2015 and against Cheick Kongo at Bellator 139 in the same year.

Now, as he attempts to defend his current 3-fight win streak in the UFC and take a step toward the title picture when he takes on Sergei Pavlovich in Saudi Arabia, the fans can expect fireworks inside the cage between the two heavyweight titans!