Preview: UFC Fight Night 160 ‘Hermansson vs. Cannonier’

Light Heavyweights

Michal Oleksiejczuk (14-2) vs. Ovince St. Preux (23-13)

ODDS: Oleksiejczuk (-230), St. Preux (+190)

The wheels might finally be coming off for St. Preux. A former linebacker at the University of Tennessee, St. Preux’s athleticism always made him an interesting talent, but over time, he became a cautionary tale of staying at a small camp. St. Preux never really developed an overarching theory to his approach, but instead relied on a grab bag of skills that were made effective by that high-level athleticism. It resulted in a solid enough run when all was said and done, but there was still the sense that St. Preux got the opportunities he did mostly due to a lack of better available options in a thin light heavyweight division. In recent years, that athleticism has started to slip, which has resulted in St. Preux relying a bit more on his grappling game, including a string of Von Flue chokes -- enough of them to have gotten the maneuver renamed the “Von Preux” in some circles. After that fun weirdness, things have started to go south in the last year-plus, with an April loss to Nikita Krylov -- a man St. Preux beat solidly back in 2014 -- putting things into stark contrast. St. Preux is now firmly in the gatekeeper phase of his career, and Poland’s Oleksiejczuk is the next man up to try and make a name off the former interim title challenger.

Oleksiejczuk is the type of weird prospect who can only succeed in the same division as someone like St. Preux. Oleksiejczuk’s pre-UFC footage suggested he was in for a rude awakening once he hit the Octagon. Most of his success came from eating a ton of damage before outlasting his opponent and staging a comeback, which figured to just get him murdered by a hard hitter like Khalil Rountree. Instead, it somehow worked, as Oleksiejczuk managed to eat everything Rountree threw at him before taking over the fight and earning a decision win. As it turns out, Oleksiejczuk might just be good. He is undersized for the division, but his hand speed has allowed him to starch Gian Villante and Gadzhimurad Antigulov in under two and a half minutes combined. Seemingly every light heavyweight prospect has a fatal flaw exposed at some point, but until that happens, Oleksiejczuk is one of the more enjoyable entries at 205 pounds.

If Oleksiejczuk had not already shown off his durability against Rountree, St. Preux might be worth a flier, but everything is trending downwards for the Strikeforce veteran. The Krylov rematch resulted in a particularly disheartening performance, as the first round went about as planned for St. Preux, only to see him gas badly and give away the fight shortly thereafter. If that is the new normal for St. Preux, this fight should go similarly. St. Preux should be able to win early, but all Oleksiejczuk does is survive; and as soon as St. Preux begins to flag, the Pole should be there to lay on a pace and some vicious combination striking. The pick is Oleksiejczuk via second-round knockout.

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