With Russia already claiming two UFC champions, both Aleksey Oleynik and Omari Akhmedov look to move one step closer to adding to that number as they chase crucial victories in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
With Khabib Nurmagomedov being the unquestioned standard-bearer in the UFC’s lightweight division, and Petr Yan joining him in the list of champions on “UFC Fight Island” last month, Russia is enjoying a golden age of mixed martial arts at the highest level of the sport.
Zabit Magomedsharipov has already begun stoking the flames of a potential title bout with featherweight king Alex Volkanovski which, if successful, would mean that Russia would hold all the gold in the bantamweight, featherweight and lightweight categories.
Several of the heavier weight classes in the UFC remain without a top contender from Russia, but that could all change this weekend at UFC Vegas 6, where heavyweight Aleksey Oleynik and middleweight Amari Akhmedov will take on two opponents with burgeoning reputations and title bout experience.
Even at 43-years-old, Oleynik remains one of the most perplexing puzzles in heavyweight mixed martial arts. A veteran of an astounding 73 professional fights, he can claim an almost absurd 46 submissions victories on his resume – many of them obtained with the vice-like Ezekiel choke technique, which is among the most impressive submission techniques in all of mixed martial arts.
Age, though, is not on his side. Now in his 44th year on the planet, Oleynik knows that, if he is to secure the title shot he craves, he can afford absolutely no slip-ups. But that’s easier said than done given his opponent on Saturday night – the hard-hitting former heavyweight title challenger Derrick Lewis.
“The Black Beast” has been submitted just once in his pro career (in his title defeat to Daniel Cormier) while he will also significantly outweigh Oleynik when they step into the cage. It means generating opportunities on the ground may prove difficult – though this sounds like exactly the type of challenge that has motivated the ‘Boa Constrictor’ throughout his extensive career to date.
Just before the main event, another surging Russian fighter, Omari Akhmedov, will be looking for what would be the most high-profile win of his career when he takes on former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman.
After opening his UFC career with a 3-3 record (which includes a submission defeat to Conor McGregor teammate Gunnar Nelson), the 34-year-old Dagestan native has been undefeated in his next six – including wins against veterans Tim Boetsch and Zak Cummings.
Weidman, though, should present a far sterner test. The former undisputed middleweight champ is perhaps best known for being the man who unsympathetically ended Anderson Silva’s 17-fight win streak seven years ago. Since then, however, his form has floundered, with the former champion enduring a torrid 1-5 spell in his last six fights, with each of those losses coming by stoppage.
Defeat for “The All-American” would almost certainly signal the end of his status as a top-level performer in the UFC, and it is a scalp that Ahkmedov would be all too happy to take as he hopes to replace the former champion and move closer to the top of the division.
Times are good for Russian MMA. By Sunday morning it could be looking even rosier.
