Aleksei Oleinik vs Jared Vanderaa: Last chance for Aleksei

On April 10, Jacksonville (USA) will host another UFC tournament. In one of the main card fights, Russian fighter Aleksei Oleinik will share the cage with US representative Jared Vanderaa.

The fight will take place in the heavyweight category. None of the fighters in the top 15 of the official UFC contenders rankings. Jared Vanderaa is the favourite in bookmaker's betting odds.

Oleinik's career has been nearing the sunset for a few years now, but right now it's the real crisis. This fight will definitely decide the future of the legendary Russian fighter - does he need to get beaten up time after time? Aleksei has only won twice in his last seven fights, and is now on a streak of three straight defeats. On the other hand, he's lost to fighters from the top 10, but he's not a contender for anything for a long time anyway, and he's working in the UFC as the most mediocre fighter.

He doesn't seem to be planning to finish, but if he loses in a drubbing he'll probably finish. Well, or will be sacked, which is pretty much the same thing.

The first time I thought about retiring was in 2001. That was 21 years ago. I said I was quitting and I didn't perform for two years after that. Then I started fighting again. I fought till 2006 or 2007 and then I quit again. Then I didn't fight for a year and a half. But, as you know, I still fight, and I don't fight in a small promotion, I fight in the UFC. Of course, I'm looking at the end of that road. But I'm still here today. What's going to happen tomorrow? I don't know, and you don't know either. Nobody knows.

Aleksei Oleinik

That's why it's necessary to see the fight on April 10th if only to say goodbye to the great fighter. During his career. he gave us many great moments.

Jared to the top fighters, even if you really want, can not be attributed to him. Nor can he be counted as a promising fighter, nothing good can come of him. In four fights in UFC, he has lost three times, all of them to Sergey Spivak, Alexander Romanov and Andrei Arlovski. Now he's on a streak of two straight defeats and is still the favourite for his upcoming fight with Oleinik. This comes as a bit of a surprise.

Jared is a (relatively) strong boxer, but he has little chance against Oleinik in the welter. That said, there is no way he's going to be a parter, the American's defense against take-downs is not outstanding.

According to official UFC statistics, Oleinik averages fewer punches per minute than Vanderaa (3.55 vs. 4.54), but misses less as well, which could be a tipping point (3.99 vs. 4.96). The good news is that he also takes a lot more touchdowns per fight (2.16 vs 0.28), and the bad news is that Vanderaa is great at defending against them (statistically his defense against touchdowns is 100%, meaning no one has yet been able to convert him).

Nevertheless, I believe Oleinik will manage a take-down, and if there is a take-down, the likelihood of a win will increase dramatically. Bookmakers offer 1.90 for the Russian fighter to win, and 1.82 for the American fighter to win.

And they're also hinting that there's a good chance the fight will be over very soon.

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