Mokaev explained that he was rooting against Pavlovich not because of hatred of Russians

Let us remember that on November 12, Aspinall knocked out Pavlovich in the first round and became the interim UFC heavyweight champion.

“To those who wrote that I was a Russophobe and was specifically rooting against Pavlovich because he was Russian: Tom and his father were my jiu-jitsu coaches from the age of 12.

I root for normal guys like Malykhin and Petr Yan, but I don’t know Pavlovich personally,” Mokaev wrote on Instagram.