A pair of UFC veterans will attempt to take another step forward in their respective championship pursuits Saturday night as former champion Frankie Edgar and heavyweight legend Alistair Overeem will bring almost 100 fights worth of experience into the Octagon.
Overeem (47-18) will face Alexander Volkov (32-8) in a five-round, heavyweight main event at UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas, while Edgar (24-8-1) will take on rising bantamweight Cory Sandhagen (13-2).
Overeem, 40, has discussed retirement recently, but he is focused on one more run after winning four of his last five. If not for a knockout loss to Jairzinho Rozenstruik with four seconds left in the fight, Overeem would be riding a five-fight win streak. Volkov is 4-1 as the betting favorite, which he’ll be against Overeem.
Edgar, 39, is looking for a title shot in his third different weight class. A former lightweight champ and featherweight contender, Edgar is 1-0 since moving to 135 pounds. It’s possible the winner of this fight will face the winner of the March 6 title fight between champion Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling.
Marc Raimondi, Brett Okamoto and Jeff Wagenheim recap the action as it happens in Las Vegas. Watch UFC Fight Night now on ESPN+.
Fight in progress:
Women’s flyweight: Molly McCann (10-3, 3-2 UFC, -150) vs. Lara Procopio (6-1, 0-1 UFC, +125)
Results:
Men’s featherweight: Seungwoo Choi (9-3, 2-2 UFC) vs. Youssef Zalal (10-4, 3-2 UFC) by unanimous decision
Recap to come.
Men’s featherweight: Timur Valiev (17-2 1NC, 1-0 1 NC UFC) vs. Martin Day (8-6, 0-4 UFC) by unanimous decision
Timur Valiev put on a methodical beatdown, getting takedowns in all three rounds and spending much of the fight’s 15 minutes in top position and never surrendering control. The decision win extended his unbeaten streak to eight straight fights.
For the 31-year-old from Dagestan, who fights out of Toms River, New Jersey, as a teammate of co-main event fighter Frankie Edgar, it was a redemption of sorts. His most recent fight, last August, is listed on his record as a no contest, but it originally was a TKO loss to Trevin Jones. The result was overturned after Jones tested positive for marijuana.
This one got Valiev fully back on track. He was in charge the whole way, delivering damage on the mat and never allowing Martin Day to get going in any way. That was reflected in the judges’ lopsided scoring: 30-25, 30-25 and 30-26.
It was the fourth straight UFC loss for Day, who is 32 and from Kailua, Hawai’i.
— Wagenheim
Men’s bantamweight: Ode’ Osbourne (9-3, 1-1 UFC) defeats Jerome Rivera (10-5, 0-3 UFC) by first-round KO
Ode Osbourne’s first UFC win came in style, as he knocked out Jerome Rivera in just 26 seconds with a piston of a left hand.
Osbourne hung in the pocket as Rivera attempted a head kick and countered with a left hand straight down the middle. The left hand dropped Rivera to the canvas and referee Chris Tognoni quickly moved in as Osbourne landed a handful of follow-up shots. It is Osbourne’s first knockout since 2018 and his first win in the UFC, after he dropped a first-round submission loss to Brian Kelleher in his promotional debut in January 2020.
Perfect counter by Osborne!
💣💣💣#UFCVegas18— Herbert Burns (@HerbertBurnsMMA) February 6, 2021
Osbourne, 29, earned a UFC contract as a contestant on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2019. The bantamweight was born in Jamaica, but now fights out of Wisconsin. He has recorded finishes in all but one of his professional wins.
— Okamoto
Fight lineup:
Heavyweight: Alistair Overeem (47-18, 12-7 UFC, +170) vs. Alexander Volkov (32-8, 6-2 UFC, -200)
Men’s bantamweight: Cory Sandhagen (13-2, 6-1 UFC, -410) vs. Frankie Edgar (28-3-1, 18-8-1 UFC, +320)
Lightweight: Michael Johnson (20-16, 11-12 UFC, -220) vs. Clay Guida (35-17, 15-14 UFC, +180)
Men’s flyweight: Alexandre Pantoja (22-5, 6-3 UFC, -115) vs. Manel Kape (15-4, 0-0 UFC, -105)
Lightweight: Diego Ferreira (17-2, 8-2 UFC, -110) vs. Beneil Dariush (19-4-1, 13-4-1 UFC, -110)
Light heavyweight: Mike Rodriguez (11-5 1 NC, 2-3 1 NC, -240) vs. Danilo Marques (10-2, 1-0 UFC, +200)
Catchweight (160 pounds): Justin Jaynes (16-6, 1-2 UFC, +240) vs. Devonte Smith (10-2, 2-1 UFC, -300)
Women’s bantamweight: Karol Rosa (13-3, 2-0 UFC, -240) vs. Joselyne Edwards (10-2, 1-0 UFC, +200)