A heavyweight clash between Alexander Volkov and Alistair Overeem will headline UFC Fight Night 149 (aka UFC On ESPN+ 7) in St. Petersburg, Russia on April 20th.
Volkov is coming off the first loss of his UFC run so far against Derrick Lewis at UFC 229 last year. Volkov had been in control of the fight for practically all three rounds, but then was knocked out with just 11 seconds reamining in the fight.
Prior to that, Volkov had won six fights in a row, including four in the UFC, beating the likes of Roy Nelson, Stefan Struve and Fabricio Werdum along the way.
Now Volkov will go up against Overeem, who earned a TKO victory over Sergery Pavlovich in China last November.
That brought an end to a two-fight losing streak in which Overeem had been knocked out by Francis Ngannou and then TKO’d by Curtis Blaydes.
That disappointing spell led the 38-year-old to start speaking about contemplating the possibility of retirement in the not to distant fuure, but it remains to be seen if he will fully commit to that idea.
Volkov Vs Overeem front a UFC Fight Night 149 card that will also feature another heavyweight fight between Marcin Tybura and Shamil Abdurakhimov.