Veteran Aleksei Oleinik has at least one fight in him, as he is scheduled to square off with the much younger Serghei Spivac, who is looking to climb up the ranks in the heavyweight division. Oleinik has no plans of being used as a stepping stone by the surging Spivac, as he continues to fight for his relevance in the heavyweight division. Will Oleinik defy father time and beat Spivac? Or will Spivac give Oleinik another reason to hang it up? Check out our preview of this fight below.
Oleinik is looking to break out of a slump, having lost both of his last two fights. He lost to Chris Daukaus via a first-round TKO back in February. Prior to that, he got knocked out in the second round of his fight against Derrick Lewis in August 2020. At 43, the best days are certainly behind Oleinik, but he still has a lot to bring to the table. He’s not the type of fighter who relies on power to take out opponents. Instead, he mostly resorts to his Brazilian jiu-jitsu in finding ways to make his foes tap out. The Russian has a total of 46 submission wins against just two submission losses in his career, which started in 1996. Even at his age, Oleinik isn’t someone any fighter would take for granted. Since turning 40, Oleinik has had wins over the likes of Mark Hunt, Maurice Greene, and Fabricio Werdum. He has a two-inch reach advantage over Spivac.
Spivac is younger by 7 years than Oleinik. That considerable difference in age could mean nothing in the end if Spivac gets careless on fight day. As mentioned, Oleinik is a submission specialist. However, you can’t blame Spivac if he is oozing with confidence right now. He has won three of his last four fights, with his lone loss during that stretch coming at the hands of Marcin Tybura via unanimous decision back in March 2020. In the two fights that followed, Spivac scored a majority decision win over Carlos Felipe in July 2020 and a TKO win over Jared Vanderaa in February 2021. It seems that Spivac has excellent cardio, as he has finished 11 of his 12 wins in the pro ranks. Spirvac can be a tough customer to bring down to the mat. Out of his six UFC fights, he’s only been taken down in just one, which was in his loss to Tybura. Meanwhile, he’s averaging three takedowns per fight in the UFC, so far.
Writer’s Prediction
Oleinik defies father time and beats Spivac via decision.
