Sergei Pavlovich used to be the most feared finisher in the heavyweight division. Between 2019 and 2023 he reeled off six straight first-round knockouts, a run that carried him to an interim title shot. Then Tom Aspinall stopped him in a round, Alexander Volkov outpointed him, and something shifted. Pavlovich has since won two in a row — over Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Waldo Cortes Acosta — but both went the distance. The knockout artist has become a decision fighter.

Tallison Teixeira has noticed. "I think he's lost a bit of that momentum and aggression he used to have, and I think that can work in my favor," the Brazilian told MMA Fighting. Teixeira is the young finisher here, 2-1 in the UFC with a strange symmetry to his record: he knocked out Justin Tafa in 35 seconds, then got knocked out by Derrick Lewis in 35 seconds. Most recently he took a full-distance decision over Tai Tuivasa — proof he can survive past the opening exchanges, even if he admitted the 15 minutes drained him.

For this camp Teixeira trained in Danbury alongside Alex Pereira and, fittingly, Glover Teixeira, sharpening both his striking and the cage-grappling he says is still a work in progress. He isn't shy about the plan: "I see myself getting a finish. Maybe not in the first round, but I want to hurt him little by little." He's already looking past Pavlovich to a possible bout with Volkov — "two Russians in a row, that would be funny."

The market strongly favors Pavlovich, and his recent decisions show a more controlled, durable version of a man who can still end a night with one punch. The question Teixeira is betting on: is the patient Pavlovich a smarter fighter, or simply one who has lost a step?