Injuries have contributed to the shuffling of the chief event of the UFC’s upcoming card in Russia, and my first thoughts on the new headliner are below.
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 out of this fight due to injury, and the UFC opted to eliminate Oleynik from his scheduled UFC Fight Night 150 bout against Walt Harris to shoot on Overeem instead. This card takes place April 20 at Venue Yubileyny Sports Palace City at 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 looked fantastic against Pavlovich and revealed he still has some gas left in the tank at age 38. Obviously, while he showed his vaunted finishing abilities against Pavlovich, the danger of Overeem being pumped out himself is always there each time he steps to the Octagon as his chin is quite suspicious at this point of his career. Luckily for Overeem, while Volkov would have had a fantastic chance to knock him out, the chances are Oleynik is going to seem to take this battle to the ground, which makes this a more 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. Among the most underrated heavyweights in MMA history, Oleynik was 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, that attracted criticisms from those who pay close attention to matchmaking. Rather, an injury to Volkov assisted him out as he’ll now get his chance to fight a top-10 ranked opponent in Overeem, along with also an impressive win here would push him closer to the title picture from the wide-open UFC heavyweight division.
Although Oleynik is a magician on the mat, Overeem is no slouch there either, and about the toes you need to give that the Dutchman a good-sized benefit. I am curious to find out what the lineup is for this particular bout after Overeem was a puppy against Pavlovich, but in my eyes he must be the favorite to beat Oleynik.
Devin Clark vs. Ivan Shtyrkov, UFC Fight Night 149
As well, light heavyweights Devin Clark and Ivan Shtyrkov will fulfill at UFC Fight Night 149. Marcel Dorff broke the information. Shtyrkov is filling in on short notice for its injured Abdul-Kerim Edilov. Clark (9-3) is 3-3 at the UFC and is coming from a TKO loss to Aleksandar Rakic. He hasn’t looked great in the UFC at either middleweight or light heavyweight, and with a loss here is 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 expertise, I would prefer Shtyrkov quite heavily in this bout because of the fact he’ll be fighting in Russia and because I believe Clark has to be faded.
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