Sergei Pavlovich to serve as backup fighter for Jon Jones vs. Ciryl Gane title fight at UFC 285

The backup fighter for UFC 285 has been revealed.

After UFC Vegas 70, Dana White revealed there would be a backup fighter for the UFC 285 main event which sees Jon Jones take on Ciryl Gane for the vacant heavyweight title. However, White wouldn’t say who the backup fighter would be.

“Is there a backup for the (UFC 285) main event? Yes,” Dana White said after UFC Vegas 70. “We always have backups for those kind of fights. I’m not gonna say it (who the backup fighter is). But, yeah, we got a backup.”

Although White wouldn’t confirm who the backup fighter was, ESPN’s Brett Okamoto reported on Monday night through Ali Abdelaziz that Sergei Pavlovich will be the backup fighter.

Sergei Pavlovich (17-1) is coming off a KO win over Tai Tuivasa at UFC Orlando in 54-seconds. Prior to that, he scored a 55-second KO win over Derrick Lewis. The Russian is 5-1 in the UFC as after losing his debut to Alistair Overeem he won beat Marcelo Golm, Maurice Greene, and Shamil Abdurakhimov by first-round stoppage as all five of his UFC wins have come in round one.

Although Pavlovich is set to be the backup fighter and weigh-in, he also has his own fight booked as he is set to headline UFC Vegas 71 against Curtis Blaydes on April 22 in a potential title eliminator fight.

With Pavlovich set to be the backup fighter, UFC 285 is as follows: