Injuries have contributed to the shuffling of the chief event of the UFC’s upcoming card Russia, and my initial thoughts on the new headliner are under.
Alistair Overeem vs. Alexey Oleynik, UFC Fight Night 149
The main event of UFC Fight Night 149 is going to be a five-round heavyweight bout between Alistair Overeem and Alexey Oleynik. Alexander Volkov pulled from this fight due to injury, and the UFC opted to eliminate Oleynik from his scheduled UFC Fight Night 150 bout against Walt Harris to take on Overeem instead. This card takes place April 20 in Venue Yubileyny Sports Palace City in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and ESPN’s Ariel Helwani has been the first to break news of the main event swap.
Overeem (44-17, 1 NC) is 9-6 overall in the UFC and in his final fight knocked out Sergey Pavlovich as an underdog. Many bettors and fans wrote off Overeem after back-to-back brutal knockout losses to Curtis Blaydes and Francis Ngannou, but he seemed fantastic against Pavlovich and showed that he still has some gas left in the tank in age 38. Of course, while he showed his vaunted finishing skills against Pavlovich, the danger of Overeem being pumped out himself is always there every time he steps into the Octagon as his chin is quite suspicious at this stage of his career. Fortunately for Overeem, while Volkov could have had a fantastic chance to knock him out, the odds are Oleynik will seem to take this battle to the floor, making this a favorable matchup for”The Reem.”
Oleynik (57-11-1) is 6-2 at the UFC and is coming off of back-to-back entry wins over Mark Hunt and Junior Albini. One of the most underrated heavyweights in MMA history, Oleynik has been deserving of a big fight for quite sometime, yet for whatever reason was reserved to combat a mid-tier heavyweight in the form of Harris, which attracted criticisms from people who pay close attention to matchmaking. Rather, an injury into Volkov assisted him out as he will now get his opportunity to fight a top-10 ranked competition in Overeem, and an impressive win here could push him closer to the title picture in the wide-open UFC heavyweight division.
Though Oleynik is a wizard on the mat, Overeem is no slouch there either, and about the feet you have to give the Dutchman a good-sized advantage. I am curious to see exactly what the line is for this bout after Overeem was a dog against Pavlovich, but in my eyes he must be the favorite to beat Oleynik.
Devin Clark vs. Ivan Shtyrkov, UFC Fight Night 149
At the same time, light heavyweights Devin Clark and Ivan Shtyrkov will fulfill at UFC Fight Night 149. Marcel Dorff broke the news. Shtyrkov is filling in on short notice for its wounded Abdul-Kerim Edilov. Clark (9-3) is 3-3 in the UFC and is coming from a TKO loss to Aleksandar Rakic. He hasn’t looked great from the UFC at either middleweight or light heavyweight, and with a reduction here is very likely to be released from his contract. Shtyrkov (15-0-1) is coming off of back-to-back finishes over UFC vets Fabio Maldonado and Thiago Silva in the Russian regional circuit, and he also holds notable wins over Antonio Silva, Jeff Monson and Ricco Rodriguez. Though Clark has more UFC experience, I would favor Shtyrkov quite heavily in this respect because of the fact he’ll be fighting in Russia and because I believe Clark has to be faded.
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