Charles Oliveira has watched Sergei Pavlovich, and he thinks he found the leak. Asked about the Brazilian heavyweight matchup headed for UFC 335, Oliveira told MMA Fighting, in comments posted on X by @DovySimuMMA: “Sergei Pavlovich doesn’t defend against kicks, and Poatan kicks a lot. Poatan moves well. In reality, if he manages to connect and gets his timing right first, it will definitely be another great knockout.”
That’s a fighter scouting a fight on his own card. Oliveira (37-11) headlines UFC 335 on Dec. 12, 2026, against Diego Lopes, and Pereira vs. Pavlovich sits on the same event. Oliveira sits at No. 4 in the Knockout Daily lightweight rankings, and he’s earned the right to talk about finishing people. He holds the UFC records for most submission wins (17), most finishes (21) and most bonuses (21). He’s also a former UFC lightweight champion and the current symbolic BMF titleholder.
Pereira (13-4) is now No. 6 in our heavyweight rankings, and he arrives with the kind of resume that makes a kick-heavy game plan sound obvious. He’s a former two-time UFC light heavyweight champion, a former UFC middleweight champion and, before any of that, a two-division Glory kickboxing champion. His last fight came on June 14, 2026. The UFC also released fresh corner footage this week from his fight with Ciryl Gane at the White House, in which coach Plinio Cruz could be heard shouting about strikes to the back of the head.
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The word doing the heavy lifting in Oliveira’s quote is “if.” He didn’t call it a lock. He said Pereira has to connect and find his timing first, which is a fair read of any heavyweight fight where both men are swinging with bad intentions. But the specific flaw he named, Pavlovich not defending kicks, lines up neatly with Pereira’s kickboxing roots. If Oliveira’s right, Pavlovich’s lead leg and body are going to hear about it early.
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Age is part of the chatter around Pereira, too. He’s 39, a number that showed up this week in a viral list of veterans on @DovySimuMMA’s X feed. A knockout of Pavlovich would push that conversation off the table for a while.
Both Brazilians get their answers on Dec. 12, on the same night, in the same building.
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