Injuries have contributed to the shuffling of the main event of the UFC’s upcoming card in 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 will be a five-round heavyweight bout between Alistair Overeem and Alexey Oleynik. Alexander Volkov pulled from this struggle 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 was the first to break news of the main event swap.
Overeem (44-17, 1 NC) is 9-6 overall from the UFC and in his last fight knocked out Sergey Pavlovich as an underdog. Many fans and bettors composed off Overeem after back-to-back brutal knockout losses to Curtis Blaydes and Francis Ngannou, but he looked fantastic against Pavlovich and revealed that he still has some gas left in the tank at age 38. Obviously, while he showed his vaunted finishing skills against Pavlovich, the threat of Overeem being knocked himself out is always there each time he steps to the Octagon because his chin is very suspicious at this point of his career. Luckily for Overeem, while Volkov could have had a fantastic chance to knock him out, the chances are Oleynik is going to seem to take this battle to the ground, making this a more favorable matchup for”The Reem.”
Oleynik (57-11-1) is 6-2 at the UFC and is coming from back-to-back entry wins over Mark Hunt and Junior Albini. One of the most underrated heavyweights in MMA history, Oleynik was deserving of a big fight for quite sometime, yet for whatever reason was booked to combat a mid-tier heavyweight in the shape of Harris, which drew criticisms from people who pay close attention to matchmaking. Rather, an injury into Volkov helped him out as he will now get his opportunity to combat a top-10 ranked competition in Overeem, along with an impressive win here could push him closer to the title picture in the wide-open UFC heavyweight division.
Although Oleynik is a magician on the mat, Overeem is no slouch there either, and about the feet you have to give that the Dutchman a good-sized advantage. I am curious to see exactly what the line is for this bout after Overeem was a puppy against Pavlovich, but in my eyes that he should be the favored 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 the injured Abdul-Kerim Edilov. Clark (9-3) is 3-3 at the UFC and is coming off of a TKO loss to Aleksandar Rakic. He has not looked very good from the UFC at either middleweight or light hearted, and with a loss here is very likely to be released from his contract. Shtyrkov (15-0-1) is coming from back-to-back finishes over UFC vets Fabio Maldonado and Thiago Silva in the Russian regional circuit, and in addition, he holds notable wins over Antonio Silva, Jeff Monson and Ricco Rodriguez. Though Clark has more UFC expertise, I’d favor Shtyrkov quite heavily in this respect due to the fact he’ll be fighting in Russia and because I think Clark must be faded.
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