Alistair Overeem has a new opponent for UFC Fight Night 149 in St. Petersburg, Russia on April 20th after Alexander Volkov was forced to withdraw from the bout due to health issues.
The UFC have now drafted in fellow Russian fighter Aleksei Oleinik to step in as Volkov’s replacement on just over two weeks notice.
Known as ‘The Boa Constrictor’ Oleinik is a deadly submission specialist who has been putting his skills to good use in the Octagon of late, racking up wins over Junior Albini and Mark Hunt by Ezekiel choke and rear-naked choke respectively.
In total Oleinik has a 6-2 record in the UFC and is currently ranked No.9 in the division, only three places behind the man he’s replacing, Volkov.
As for Overeem, he’s coming off a first round TKO victory against Sergei Pavlovich back in November of last year.
That brought an end to two-fight losing streak for ‘The Reem’ who had been brutally knocked out by Francis Ngannou at the tail-end of 2017 and then subsequently been TKO’d by Curtis Blaydes.
Nevertheless, Overeem remains 7th in the heavyweight rankings heading into this fight, the 63rd of his career.
Overeem Vs Oleinik headlines a UFC Fight Night 149 card that will also feature the likes of Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan and Antonina Shevchenko Vs Roxanne Modafferi.
