Report: Fabricio Werdum back from suspension, meets Alexey Oleynik at UFC 250

Photo by Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Fabricio Werdum will reportedly take on Alexey Oleynik in Sao Paulo, in May. Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum is reportedly back for his first fight in two years….

UFC Fight Night Weigh-in

Photo by Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Fabricio Werdum will reportedly take on Alexey Oleynik in Sao Paulo, in May.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum is reportedly back for his first fight in two years.

Per Combate’s report, ‘Vai Cavalo’ will take on fellow submission specialist Alexey Oleynik at UFC 250 in Sao Paulo. It will be his first fight since failing a September 2018 USADA test, which he tested positive for the banned substance trenbolone. This fight was actually booked to headline UFC Moscow in November 2018, only for Werdum to be pulled and subsequently suspended for the drug test failure.

Before the suspension, Fabricio Werdum (23-8-1) suffered a knockout loss to contender Alexander Volkov, in March 2018. The loss snapped a two-fight winning streak for the 42-year-old, which included a submission of Walt Harris and a unanimous decision victory against Marcin Tybura.

Fresh off a submission finish of Maurice Greene at last month’s UFC 246, his 46th win via that method in his professional MMA career, Alexey Oleynik (58-13-1) snapped a two-fight skid with the performance. Before tapping out Greene, the 42-year-old was knocked out by both Alistair Overeem and Walt Harris in 2019.

Although UFC 250 is rumored to be headlined by a bantamweight title fight between the champion, Henry Cejudo, and former featherweight titleholder Jose Aldo, nothing has been confirmed as of yet.