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 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 also the UFC chose 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 in 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 from the UFC and in his final fight knocked out Sergey Pavlovich as an underdog. Many bettors and fans composed off Overeem after back-to-back brutal knockout losses to Curtis Blaydes and Francis Ngannou, but he looked fantastic against Pavlovich and showed 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 every time he steps into the Octagon because his chin is quite suspicious at this stage of his profession. Luckily for Overeem, while Volkov would have had a fantastic chance to knock him out, the odds are Oleynik will look to take this fight to the floor, which makes 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 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, yet for whatever reason was reserved to fight a mid-tier heavyweight in the form of Harris, which drew criticisms from people who pay close attention to matchmaking. Rather, 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 an impressive win here could push him closer into 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 on the toes you have to give that the Dutchman a good-sized benefit. 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 favorite to conquer 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 wounded 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 from the UFC at either middleweight or light hearted, and using a reduction 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 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’d favor Shtyrkov quite heavily in this respect due to the fact he will be fighting in Russia and because I believe Clark has to be faded.
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