Sergei Pavlovich and Tallison Teixeira are set to meet in a three-round heavyweight fight on the UFC Fight Night main card in Macau on Saturday, May 30, the promotion confirmed. The show reaches viewers in the U.S. at 7:00 a.m. ET on Paramount+ from Galaxy Arena, with the bout framed as a clash between a top-five contender and a volatile, fast-finishing challenger.
Pavlovich arrives as the clear betting favorite — listed at -625 on DraftKings Sportsbook — after a run that has him ranked No. 3 in the division and carrying an 8-3 pro record. He went 2-0 in 2025 with decision wins over Waldo Cortes-Acosta and Jairzinho Rozenstruik, but his résumé also includes a six-fight stretch of first-round knockout wins from April 2019 to April 2023 that featured finishes of Derrick Lewis, Tai Tuivasa and Curtis Blaydes.
Teixeira is a 26-year-old heavyweight with a much shorter top-level résumé. He is No. 15, 2-1 in the UFC and a +455 underdog on DraftKings Sportsbook. Teixeira began his career 8-0 with eight first-round finishes, earned his UFC spot via Season 8 of the Contender Series, and entered his bout with Tuivasa at UFC 325 with just 70 seconds of total UFC experience. That history of quick endings — and the fact he has already beaten Tai Tuivasa by decision in his previous two bouts — helps explain why the match-up feels like a test rather than a routine step up.
The betting market has landed on a conservative single pick as well: the DraftKings Network listed over 1.5 rounds at +135, signaling expectations that Pavlovich’s power could meet Teixeira’s brawling style but that the fight may not end immediately one way or the other.
The matchup carries clear stakes for the heavyweight picture. A win for Pavlovich would reinforce his standing as a title-window fighter after two decision victories and a resume that mixes long fights with a history of early stoppages; a win for Teixeira would vault a relative newcomer into genuine contention and validate the idea that his early-career finishing streak can translate against elite opposition.
There has been an element of pre-fight friction. Pavlovich posted an Instagram message to Teixeira last month that read, "You are asking for a war… be ready — it will end soon. Review your plan," and he has since suggested Teixeira is a young fighter who likes to brawl, adding that he sometimes changes tactics to send a warning. Those exchanges underline a stylistic matchup: Teixeira’s history of finishing fights quickly versus Pavlovich’s size, power and growing experience at the top of the division.
That contrast is the unresolved question the fight must answer. Pavlovich has shown both the capacity to finish opponents in the first round and the ability to grind out clear decision victories; Teixeira has repeatedly closed fights early in his career but has also been stopped by Derrick Lewis by first-round knockout and comes into this fight as a heavy underdog despite his eight-fight run of first-round finishes.
Practical detail for viewers: the main card airs on Paramount+ at 7:00 a.m. ET from Galaxy Arena in Macau. What to watch when the fighters meet is straightforward — whether Teixeira can turn his opening-round finishing power into openings against Pavlovich’s reach and strength, and whether Pavlovich reverts to early aggression or leans on the endurance and measured striking that produced his recent decisions.
The fight answers more than a betting line; it will show whether a 26-year-old with a history of instant endings can disrupt the trajectory of a 34-year-old former interim title challenger who has alternated between quick knockouts and hard-fought decisions. The next decisive moment arrives in Macau on May 30, when the cage settles the question no stat sheet yet can.
