What’s Next For Aleksei Oleinik?

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Another weekend of fisticuffs has come and gone as UFC on Vegas 6 blew the roof off UFC APEX last Saturday night (Aug. 8, 2020) in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Plenty of fighters were left licking their wounds, including Omari Akhmedov, who saw his nice run ended by Chris Weidman in the co-main event of the evening (recap). And Scott Holtzman, who was knocked out by Beneil Dariush via spinning back fist (see it again here).

But which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show?

Aleksei Oleinik.

In his six years with the promotion, Oleinik had yet to win three straight fights inside the Octagon, always winning two, losing, win two, losing and so on. It’s a cycle he’s been consistent with since 2014. And it was something “Boa Constrictor” was hoping to change against Derrick Lewis heading into his third UFC event as headliner.

Unfortunately for Oleinik, it was pretty much same old, same old. Things looked promising for the lontime veteran early on after scoring a couple of takedowns which led to a couple of submission attempts that Lewis was able to power out of.

But after getting tagged right on the chin by one of “Black Beast’s” ever-so powerful bombs, there was nothing much Aleksei could do but to wait for the incoming onslaught and pray that that referee on duty would put an end to the bout in a timely manner.

And since it was Herb Dean officiating, it was a real big possibility the punishment would go on longer than necessary.

Once again Aleksei failed to get his first three-fight win streak inside the Octagon and move up the rankings. At 43 years of age, that pretty much means his first-ever shot at a UFC Heavyweight title keeps evading him. But his most recent crushing loss won’t deter him from chugging along.

“There are always 2 ways: forward and back. I choose the first one,” wrote “The Boa Constrictor” on Twitter.

While a title shot is out of reach, that doesn’t mean he’s done putting a hurting on people inside the Octagon. Despite being the oldest Heavyweight on the roster Oleinik is still a tough draw for anyone. So following his latest defeat, I’d like to see “Boa Constrictor” face the loser of Alexander Volkov and Walt Harris next.

“Drago” is also coming off a loss by coming up short to top division contender Curtis Blaydes a few months ago. So if he drops his second straight to Walt, he will be in no position to start negotiating or turning down fights. With a win, he will have the upper-hand and can look forward to asking for bigger fights.

As for Walt, he has a 12-second knockout win over Oleinik, sleeping him with one punch at UFC on ESPN 4. So I’m sure that’s a fight “Boa Constrictor” would love to get back.

Those are my options for Aleksei, care to offer up a few of your own?