A fan on Reddit dug up an old photo of UFC 295's Sergei Pavlovich training with former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Mamedov and it's blown their mind.
The photo which is cropped from a larger group photo, was taken in September 2017 at AKA in San Jose, CA and was captioned, "Eagles in training."
At the time the photo was taken, Nurmagomedov was preparing to fight Edson Barboza at UFC 219 which would take place just three months later. Pavlovich was not in the UFC yet, he wouldn't make his promotional debut until November 2018.
Sergei Pavlovich training with Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Mamedov in 2017 👀 #UFC295 pic.twitter.com/bwXP3u3vuh
— Amy Kaplan (@PhotoAmy33) November 9, 2023
The fans on Reddit loved seeing the flashback photo and reacted in the comments.
Most people reacted to his size difference writing things like, "Jesus Christ he’s huge" and "P4P goes out the window when the other guy can just rip your arm off."
Someone else wrote, "Khabib is 5'10 and walked around at ~190, he's an average-sized man. Sergei is legitimately huge, he's noticeably bigger than Tom too."
Another fan compared him to Brock Lesnar writing, "Pavlovich isn't crazy tall but dude's wide and girthy asf. Probably only Brock Lesnar was big as him frame width wise."
Pavlovich is just days away from fighting for the interim UFC heavyweight title. He is fighting Tom Aspinall in the co-main event at UFC 295 on Oct. 11. The reigning champion, Jon Jones, is out on leave due to an injury.