“The Boa Constrictor” Alexey Oleynik has been ready to get back into the Octagon for quite some time now and he finally has his next fight date and opponent, facing Walt Harris at UFC Ottawa.
When it comes to feared submission specialists, there aren’t many like Russia’s Alexey Oleynik (57-11-1). The 41-year old 69-fight veteran has earned a whopping 45 of his 57 career victories via submission. With just about every variation in the book under his belt, it’s safe to say that his favorite is the ever rare Ezekiel choke which he has successfully executed on a crazy 12 separate occasions.
Currently riding a two-fight winning streak with his most recent win coming over Mark Hunt in the UFC’s debut in Russia, Oleynik was hoping for a big jump up the ladder for his next time out.
Instead, ESPN has now confirmed that the ninth-ranked contender Oleynik will face the 14th-ranked Walt Harris (11-7) at UFC Ottawa on May 4.
For Harris, his last fight was originally the biggest win of his career when he picked up a split decision win against Andrei Arlovski at UFC 232. However, a failed USADA test would overturn the result to a no-contest. Harris would only end up getting a four-month suspension as he was able to prove that his test failure was the result of a tainted supplement. That suspension ends on April 29, just five days before fight night.
As for the rest of UFC Ottawa, it has begun to shape up rather nicely and will surely be finalized within the coming weeks.
- Middleweight: Derek Brunson vs. Elias Theodorou
- Bantamweight: Sarah Moras vs. Leah Letson
- Middleweight: Marc-Andre Barriault vs. Andrew Sanchez
- Heavyweight: Arjan Bhullar vs. Juan Adams
- Bantamweight: Aiemann Zahabi vs. Vince Morales
- Bantamweight: Mitch Gagnon vs. Brian Kelleher
- Bantamweight: Brad Katona vs. Merab Dvalishvili
- Featherweight: Kyle Nelson vs. Matt Sayles
- Welterweight: Nordine Taleb vs. Siyar Bahadurzada
