Injuries have led to the shuffling of the chief event of the UFC’s forthcoming card in Russia, and my initial 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 remove 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 was the first to break news of the chief event swap.
Overeem (44-17, 1 NC) is 9-6 overall in 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 seemed fantastic against Pavlovich and showed he still has some gas left in the tank at age 38. Obviously, while he showed his vaunted finishing abilities against Pavlovich, the threat of Overeem being pumped himself out is always there every time he steps to the Octagon as his chin is quite questionable at this stage of his profession. Luckily for Overeem, while Volkov could have had a good chance to knock him out, the chances are Oleynik will seem to take this fight to the floor, 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 submission wins over Mark Hunt and Junior Albini. Among the most underrated heavyweights in MMA history, Oleynik has been deserving of a big fight for quite sometime, yet for whatever reason was booked to fight a mid-tier heavyweight in the form of Harris, which attracted criticisms from those who pay close attention to matchmaking. Rather, an injury to Volkov assisted 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.
Though 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 advantage. I am curious to see what the lineup is for this bout later Overeem was a puppy against Pavlovich, but in my eyes he should be the favored to beat Oleynik.
Devin Clark vs. Ivan Shtyrkov, UFC Fight Night 149
As well, light heavyweights Devin Clark and Ivan Shtyrkov will fulfill UFC Fight Night 149. Marcel Dorff broke the news. Shtyrkov is filling in on short notice for its injured Abdul-Kerim Edilov. Clark (9-3) is 3-3 in the UFC and is coming from a TKO loss to Aleksandar Rakic. He has not 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 endings over UFC vets Fabio Maldonado and Thiago Silva on the Russian regional circuit, and he also holds remarkable wins over Antonio Silva, Jeff Monson and Ricco Rodriguez. Though Clark has more UFC experience, I’d prefer Shtyrkov quite heavily in this bout because of the fact he will be battling in Russia and also because I think Clark must be faded.
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