Sergei Pavlovich says UFC 295 fight against Tom Aspinall is for the “legit title”

Sergei Pavlovich doesn’t think he’s fighting for the interim heavyweight title on Saturday.

Pavlovich is set to fight Tom Aspinall in the co-main event of UFC 295 from Madison Square Garden on Saturday. Originally, the card was supposed to be headlined by a heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic. However, just over two weeks out from the event, Jones tore his pec so the promotion made an interim title fight between Pavlovich and Aspinall.

Although the winner of Sergei Pavlovich and Tom Aspinall won’t be the undisputed champion officially, the Russian says this fight is for the real heavyweight title.

“You know, for me, this is the legit title,” Pavlovich said at UFC 295 media day.

RELATED: Dana White explains why Stipe Miocic isn’t part of interim heavyweight title fight.

Part of the reason why Sergei Pavlovich thinks this is for the real title is due to the fact there have been rumors that both Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic will retire after they fight anyway.

But, for now, Sergei Pavlovich says the focus is just on Saturday as he knows this fight will be a tough one for him.

“When it comes to the fight itself, there’s going to be two big dudes, strong dudes, fighting each other. We don’t know what is going to happen but it’s going to be a good fight. Then the fact that I’m tying a legend possibly on Saturday, that means I’m achieving some other goals, some other goals that I set for myself, putting myself in the ranks of the greatest,” Pavlovich said.

Sergei Pavlovich is 18-1 and is 6-1 in the UFC with all seven fights ending in the first round. Pavlovich is riding a six-fight win streak and coming off a TKO win over Curtis Blaydes. On the win streak he has also beaten Tai Tuivasa, Derrick Lewis, Shamil Abdurakhimov, Maurice Greene, and Marcelo Golm.