Whilst the ‘Polar Bear’ refused to call anyone out in his immediate post-fight interview with Bisping, it didn’t take long for a potential next opponent to raise their hand.
Another lackluster UFC Fight Night card at the Apex at least came to an end on somewhat of an exciting note as Moldova’s Serghei Spivac bounced back into the win column with a submission victory just 104 seconds into the very first round.
Serghei Spivac earns extra $50K with first-round revenge at UFC Vegas 95
Serghei Spivac was able to avenge his 2020 unanimous decision loss to Marcin Tybura with a sweet first-round submission last night in Las Vegas, a win that netted the ‘Polar Bear’ an extra $50,000 POTN bonus.
Since that first fight against the Pole, and including this weekend’s UFC Vegas 95 rematch win, Spivac has gone 7-2 in the promotion with those two losses coming at the hands of Ciryl Gane and the now interim champion Tom Aspinall.
More importantly, victory in the Apex sees Spivac continue his ascent up the heavyweight rankings, and given that he’s now expected to take the place of the #8 ranked Tybura come Tuesday’s update – what could be next for the 29-year-old?
Jailton Almeida calls out Serghei Spivac, ‘Polar Bear’ responds in kind
Speaking to Bisping in the octagon, Spivac didn’t have a specific name as to who he’d like to fight next: “To be honest, no exact name but anybody above me in the rankings, 100% somebody above me.”
Yet just a few minutes later, Spivac’s next potential opponent appeared to come to the forefront in the form of Brazilian wrecking ball, Jailton Almeida.
“Spivac, do you want someone above you in the rankings?” Almeida wrote on social media, adding: “I’m here!! #7 vs #8. I want to fight Bro! Happy you get the finish early, so, we can fight soon!”
Almeida is 7-1 in the UFC and recently bounced back from a vicious TKO loss to Curtis Blaydes with a slick first-round submission of his own over Alexandr Romanov in June.
When asked about the possibility of facing the Brazilian finisher at the post-fight press conference, Spivac simply said, “Let him train.”
Yet the ‘Polar Bear’ also stated that he’d also be willing to fight the winner of Ciryl Gane vs Alexander Volkov, which is scheduled to go down October 26 on the main card of UFC 308: Topuria vs Holloway in Abu Dhabi.
“I agree to fight with anybody, either of them. Whoever wins, I’m happy to fight the winner,” Spivac told reporters.
Despite Almeida wanting to “fight soon,” that might not come to fruition as Spivac later revealed to the UFC News crew that he’d taken the rematch with Tybura with an ongoing injury that’ll need time to recover.
“I did have to take this fight with an injury, there was no going back so I would like to take some time to heal up and make sure that everything is okay and during that time, I’m assuming that things are going to shift around in the heavyweight division.
“I would love to fight somebody above me in the rankings but for now, I just want to get better and see what happens.”
With the win in Las Vegas, Serghei Spivac moves to 17-4 as a professional.
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