Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight specialists Mark Hunt and Aleksei Oleinik clashed last night (Sept. 15, 2018) at UFC Fight Night 136 inside Olimpiyskiy Stadium in Moscow, Russia.
Though overall Hunt’s UFC career has been an incredible story of redemption, the individual fights have been a series of ups-and-downs. Most recently, yet another one of the men to defeat Hunt in the Octagon failed a drug test — a point of constant anger for the veteran scrapper. Nevertheless, Hunt walked to the Octagon last night looking to bounce back into the win column.
Oleinik is a special fighter as well, a man with over 40 career submission victories and a dozen Ezekiel chokes on his record, including the only two in UFC history. Visa issues prevented “Boa Constrictor” from joining the UFC for a very long time, but he’s been making the most of his opportunities despite being in the twilight of his professional career.
Oleinik took the center of the cage and pushed forward, but Hunt struck first with a hard low kick. The Russian continued to push forward and threw looping hooks, but Hunt avoided them and continued to slam into Oleinik’s lead leg, often knocking him way out of stance. After establishing the low kick and backing Oleinik off, Hunt started finding opportunities to land his left hook as well.
Halfway through the round, things were going terribly for Oleinik. His lead leg was getting chewed up, and Hunt’s power punches were wobbling “Boa Constrictor” a bit also. Then, Oleinik scored with a couple of wide hooks and while it’s not clear whether Hunt was stunned or slipped, the opportunity was created regardless. The veteran grappler drove forward into a takedown, which resulted in a back clinch.
From there, Oleinik dragged his foe to the mat and quickly climbed into back mount. With about a minute remaining in the round, Hunt latched onto an arm and seemed content to stall until the bell. However, Oleinik switched his grip and sunk the choke in just a tad. Considering Oleinik’s legendary squeeze, it’s no surprise that’s all the opening he required, as Oleinik forced the rap just moments later.
Oleinik is awesome. The Russian has been strangling guys most of us have never heard of — and make no mistake, there are Russian fighters most US fans don’t or won’t ever know about who are scary combatants — for literal decades, always having the reputation of a skilled fighter still unproven against high-level foes. In the last couple years during the twilight of his career, Oleinik has proved his talents and toughness.
Oleinik has actually grown more effective with age. He’s a bit slower, sure, but his durability and grit remain. Multiple times now, his punching power has also pulled through for him. Against men like Travis Browne, Jared Rosholt, and now Mark Hunt, Oleinik was forced to rely on toughness until a heavy punch landed and turned the tide.
Once on top, Oleinik is crushes opponents like a trash compactor.
What does this victory mean for Oleinik? Divisionally, not all that much, as Oleinik is no title contender this late in life. It’s more of a moral win for Oleinik: a legitimizing victory over a very tough opponent and main event victory in his home country.
On the other hand, Hunt was looking positively violent prior to getting clipped and put on his back. It was great to see Hunt throwing low kicks again, as he kicks so brutally hard that most Heavyweights will crumble after a few land. Even aside from the kicks, Hunt was managing range and implementing his game plan well to start the fight.
Unfortunately, he was simply out-classed on the mat and became Oleinik’s 46th submission victory.
Last night, Alexey Oleinik strangled another victim in the main event. Who should Oleinik face next?
For complete UFC Fight Night 136: “Hunt vs. Oleinik” results and play-by-play, click HERE!