Injuries have led to the shuffling of the main event of the UFC’s upcoming card 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 will be a five-round heavyweight bout between Alistair Overeem and Alexey Oleynik. Alexander Volkov pulled from this struggle because of injury, and the UFC opted to eliminate Oleynik out of 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 last fight knocked out Sergey Pavlovich within 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 revealed that he still has some gas left in the tank at age 38. Of course, while he showed his vaunted finishing skills against Pavlovich, the danger of Overeem being knocked out himself is always there each time he steps into the Octagon as his chin is very questionable 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 fight to the ground, making this a more favorable matchup for”The Reem.”
Oleynik (57-11-1) is 6-2 in 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, however for whatever reason was booked to combat a mid-tier heavyweight in the shape of Harris, that drew criticisms from those who pay close attention to matchmaking. Instead, an injury into Volkov helped him out as he’ll now get his opportunity to combat a top-10 ranked opponent in Overeem, along with also an impressive win here could push him closer into 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 on the feet you have to provide that the Dutchman a good-sized advantage. I am curious to find out what the line is for this particular bout later Overeem was a dog against Pavlovich, but in my eyes that he must be the favored to conquer 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 in the UFC and is coming off of a TKO loss to Aleksandar Rakic. He has not looked great from the UFC at either middleweight or light heavyweight, and using 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 on 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 respect due to the fact he’ll be fighting in Russia and also because I believe Clark must be faded.
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