Sergei Pavlovich Isn't Your Average UFC Rookie

Very seldom does a newcomer arrive in the UFC and immediately get paired up with a perennial contender in the co-main event, but Sergei Pavlovich isn’t your average, everyday UFC rookie.

Standing six-foot-three and looking like he was chiseled out of granite, Pavlovich is one of the most intriguing prospects to enter the heavyweight division in quite some time — an undefeated upstart with a Greco-Roman wrestling pedigree, a brief reign as the Fight Nights Global champion and back-to-back victories over a pair of veteran countrymen that underscore what kind of upside the 26-year-old brings to the table in his promotional debut this weekend.

While most fighters making their first foray into the…