Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has a new main event for its upcoming UFC on ESPN+ 7 mixed martial arts (MMA) extravaganza, scheduled for Sat., April 20, 2019 inside Yubileyny Sports Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia.
That’s because Alexander Volkov has withdrawn for undisclosed reasons, according to a report from ESPN, paving the way for fellow Russian Aleksei Oleinik to step in and take his place opposite Alistair Overeem in the five-round heavyweight headliner.
Unfortunately, the promotion had to rob Peter to pay Paul, as Oleinik was already scheduled to fight Walt Harris at UFC on ESPN+ 8 on May 4 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, so matchmakers have roughly one month to find a suitable replacement.
Overeem (44-17, 1 NC) got back into the win column by pounding out Sergey Pavlovich at UFC Beijing back in November. The well-traveled Oleinik (57-11-1) hasn’t competed since his submission win over Mark Hunt last September in Moscow.
To see the reworked UFC Saint Petersburg fight card and line up click here.