The UFC’s second visit to Russia will be headlined by a heavyweight fight between Alistair Overeem and Aleksei Oleinik on Saturday in St. Petersburg.
Before the big guys take to the Octagon, however, there are several fights of note happening at Yubileyny Sports Palace.
Here’s how the action has gone down so far:
Michal Oleksiejczuk,defeates Gadzhimurad Antigulov by first-round KO
Oleksiejczuk made a quick turnaround because his last fight, in February, lasted barely a minute and a half. This time he needed even less time to get the KO, catching the aggressive Antigulov early and dropping him three times in a fight that lasted just 44 seconds.
Oleksiejczuk (14-2), a 24-year-old out of Poland, is unbeaten in his last 12 fights, while Antigulov (20-6) lost his second in a row after a 14-fight winning streak.
Magomed Mustafaev defeats Rafael Fiziev by first-round TKO
Mustafaev, who had not fought since 2016 because of an arm injury, didn’t have much of an opportunity to test that arm because he made quick work of Fiziev with a spinning back kick — flooring the Kazakhstan fighter and finishing him just 1:26 into the fight.
It was the first MMA loss for Muay Thai specialist Fiziev (6-1), who was grazed by the first kick Mustafaev launched, then knocked down and dazed by the second. Mustafaev (15-2), who is from Dagestan, finished the job with a flurry of punches on the canvas.
Still to come …
Marcin Tybura vs. Shamil Abdurakhimov, heavyweight
Alexander Yakovlev vs. Alex Da Silva, lightweight
Sultan Aliev vs. Keita Nakamura, welterweight
Movsar Evloev vs. Seungwoo Choi, men’s bantamweight
Krzysztof Jotko vs. Alen Amedovski, middleweight
Roxanne Modafferi vs. Antonina Shevchenko, women’s flyweight
Sergei Pavlovich vs. Marcelo Golm, heavyweight
Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan, lightweight
Aleksei Oleinik vs. Alistair Overeem, heavyweight