Injuries have led to the shuffling of the main 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 out of this struggle because of injury, and the UFC chose 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 in Venue Yubileyny Sports Palace City in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and ESPN’s Ariel Helwani has been the first to break news of the chief event swap.
Overeem (44-17, 1 NC) is 9-6 overall from 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 showed he still has some gas left in the tank at age 38. Obviously, while he showed off his vaunted finishing skills against Pavlovich, the danger of Overeem being pumped himself out is always there each time he steps to the Octagon because his chin is quite suspicious at this point of his profession. Luckily for Overeem, while Volkov could have had a fantastic opportunity to knock him out, the chances are Oleynik will seem to take this battle to the floor, making this a more favorable matchup for”The Reem.”
Oleynik (57-11-1) is 6-2 in 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 has been deserving of a big fight for quite sometime, however for whatever reason was booked to combat a mid-tier heavyweight in the shape of Harris, that attracted criticisms from those who pay close attention to matchmaking. Instead, an injury to Volkov helped him out as he’ll now get his opportunity to combat a top-10 ranked competition in Overeem, and also an impressive win here could push him closer to the title picture from the wide-open UFC heavyweight division.
Though Oleynik is a magician on the mat, Overeem is no slouch there either, and on the toes you have to give the Dutchman a good-sized advantage. I am curious to see what the line is for this bout after Overeem was a puppy against Pavlovich, but in my eyes that he should be the favorite to conquer Oleynik.
Devin Clark vs. Ivan Shtyrkov, UFC Fight Night 149
At the same time, light heavyweights Devin Clark and Ivan Shtyrkov will meet 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 off of a TKO loss to Aleksandar Rakic. He hasn’t looked great in the UFC at either middleweight or light hearted, and using 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 he also holds remarkable wins over Antonio Silva, Jeff Monson and Ricco Rodriguez. Though Clark has more UFC experience, I would prefer Shtyrkov quite heavily in this bout because of the fact he will be fighting in Russia and because I think Clark must be faded.
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