Sergei Pavlovich knocks out Tallison Teixeira in 39 seconds

Thirty-nine seconds were enough to change the question around Sergei Pavlovich. He arrived at UFC Macau as a dangerous heavyweight trying to force his way back into the title conversation. He left after stopping Tallison Teixeira before the fight had properly found a rhythm.

Pavlovich finished the Brazilian with punches at 0:39 of the opening round inside Galaxy Arena. Teixeira had built real momentum around his size and youth, but there was no quiet opening period once the cage door closed. Pavlovich took the centre, started firing and gave a rising heavyweight the harshest possible answer to a major step up.

Pavlovich gets his finish back

For Pavlovich, the speed of the result matters because his last two victories had looked different. After the losses to Tom Aspinall and Alexander Volkov, he rebuilt with decision wins over Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Waldo Cortes-Acosta. Useful wins, but not the kind that made the division fear the first exchange again.

Macau brought that old problem straight back. Pavlovich did not need rounds to settle, wrestle or bank control time. He met Teixeira with the pressure and punching volume that made his earlier heavyweight run so uncomfortable for opponents. Once Teixeira was hurt and backed up, the referee stepped in with only 39 seconds gone.

The result became Pavlovich’s sixth knockout victory in the UFC and the 16th first-round knockout of his professional career. Heavyweight is full of fighters who can change a bout with one shot. Pavlovich remains a different kind of problem when he is moving forward with both hands working and an opponent has no clean way out.

• Pavlovich stopped Teixeira by punches at 0:39 of Round 1.
• The win moved his professional record to 21-3.
• He has now recorded six knockout wins inside the UFC octagon.
• His 16 career knockout victories have all come in the opening round.

Teixeira runs into the top level

Teixeira did not arrive as an easy booking. The 6-foot-7 Brazilian had already beaten Tai Tuivasa earlier this year and came to Macau with a chance to force his name deeper into the heavyweight picture. He had also spoken confidently about the work he put in around Alex Pereira and Glover Teixeira before the fight.

None of that bought him time against Pavlovich. Heavyweight prospects can look ready right up until they meet a veteran who refuses to give them a safe first minute. Teixeira had barely started to read the distance when the fight was taken away from him.

This is his second first-round stoppage loss in the UFC after Derrick Lewis beat him in 2025. He still has the size and physical tools to rebuild, but Macau exposed the risk of climbing quickly in this division. Against the hardest punchers, one bad opening sequence can wipe out an entire camp.

Pavlovich wants the belt again

Pavlovich did not treat the finish like a quiet rebuilding win. With the microphone in his hand, he asked Dana White for either a title shot or a fight that puts him directly in line for one. He also named the winner of Alex Pereira vs Ciryl Gane as the opponent he wants next, before ending the message with the clearest possible line: “I want the belt.”

The demand comes at a crowded moment in the heavyweight division. Tom Aspinall holds the championship, while Pereira and Gane are heading toward a major fight of their own. Pavlovich cannot decide how the UFC arranges that queue, but he has now produced the sort of result that makes ignoring him harder.

A decision win can keep a contender alive. A 39-second knockout reminds people why opponents were once struggling to get out of the first round with Pavlovich. He is no longer asking the UFC to look only at the slower wins that rebuilt his position. He has given the division a fresh image: Teixeira going down before the first minute was finished, and Pavlovich immediately asking for the biggest fight available.