Light Heavyweights
Ovince St. Preux (23-12) vs. Nikita Krylov (24-6)Advertisement
Bring on the light heavyweight weirdness. St. Preux is a cautionary tale in terms of the negatives of staying with a small camp; the former University of Tennessee linebacker decided to stay loyal to his Knoxville roots, and as a result, he has strung together a strange, patchwork fighting style that functions in tricky fashion during individual moments but never quite coalesces into a coherent whole. “OSP” is still enough of an athlete that he has been successful, however, even if the gaping technical flaws in his game have prevented him from becoming a true contender. For years, St. Preux kept getting chance after chance to break through into the elite, mostly due to a lack of other options, but as he has gotten older and the division has started to churn, he has turned into a fun, weird gatekeeper to see how rising light heavyweight talent can cope with a better athlete. Failing an obvious opponent in that mold, the UFC can just do something bizarrely entertaining, like this rematch against Krylov.
Ukraine’s Krylov quickly became a cult favorite for all the wrong reasons when he hit the UFC scene; his debut against Soa Palelei was a memorably terrible affair, as both men gassed immediately to create a grappling match that looked more like a wildlife mating film than any sort of athletic contest. Against all odds, Krylov cut down to 205 pounds and suddenly became a legitimate prospect. He has never been all that good technically, but Krylov is willing to make up for his flaws with sheer aggression and a readiness to take the fight anywhere in search of a finish. Sometimes that fails wildly -- his first fight against “OSP” saw him charge directly into St. Preux’s signature Von Flue choke -- but Krylov has just as many highlight-reel submissions and knockouts on his resume as he does one-sided losses. Krylov temporarily left the UFC in favor of bigger paydays in Russia, but upon his return in September, it was more of the same, as he enjoyed some early success but generally charged into a beating from Jan Blachowicz. Still, light heavyweights who have sheer aggression and youth in their favor but not much else have managed to do well in recent years, so maybe Krylov can start a run here.
This will be dumb. Krylov’s just going to run at “OSP” while St. Preux cycles through whatever strange techniques come to mind, so at any particular moment, either man is capable of scoring an impressive finish. However, Krylov is also the type of fighter who probably will not learn from the first fight, so he seems destined to charge directly into whatever St. Preux has to offer. Krylov’s penchant for taking things to the mat and initiating chaos makes his situation even worse, as St. Preux has proven to be surprisingly strong on the mat even beyond having a weird bag of tricks. The pick is St. Preux via first-round submission.
Next Fights » ESPN Prelims
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