Derrick Lewis and Alexey Oleynik reside on opposite ends of the striker-grappler spectrum in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s heavyweight division—a reality that makes their UFC Fight Night 174 main event on Saturday in Las Vegas all the more intriguing.
A former Legacy Fighting Championship titleholder, Lewis has compiled a 14-5 record since he joined the UFC roster in 2014. He last competed at UFC 247, where he laid claim to a unanimous decision over Ilir Latifi on Feb. 8 and went the distance for just the sixth time as a professional. Lewis has delivered 18 of his 23 career wins by knockout or technical knockout.
Oleynik remains a Top 10 heavyweight well into his 40s. “The Boa Constrictor” enters his showdown with Lewis on the strength of back-to-back victories over Maurice Greene and Fabricio Werdum. Not much attention was paid to Oleynik when he signed with the UFC a little more than six years, but he has managed to win eight of his 12 bouts inside the Octagon.
As Lewis and Oleynik approach their confrontation, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:
35: Years of age for Lewis, who was born in New Orleans on Feb. 7, 1985.
1: Lewis win by submission. Known more for his standup exploits, “The Black Beast” put away Rakim Cleveland with a second-round armbar at Worldwide Gladiator event in November 2010. Having occurred in Lewis’ fourth professional appearance, it remains the only tapout victory of his 31-fight career.
14: Victories as a UFC heavyweight for Lewis. It places him fourth on the promotion’s all-time list—behind only Andrei Arlovski (18), Frank Mir (16) and Junior dos Santos (15).
7: First-round finishes to Lewis’ credit. However, he has not stopped an opponent inside the first five minutes since he knocked out Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC Fight Night 86 on April 10, 2016.
4: Lewis losses by knockout or technical knockout. Dos Santos, Mark Hunt, Shawn Jordan and Matt Mitrione were the perpetrators.
43: Years of age for Oleynik. He was born on June 25, 1977 in Kharkov, Ukraine.
46: Oleynik wins by submission, accounting for 78 percent of his career total. His methods of choice: 14 by Ezekiel choke, 11 by rear-naked choke, five by armbar, five by triangle choke, four by neck crank, three by heel hook, two by guillotine choke, one by arm-triangle choke and one by scarf hold.
2: Oleynik losses by submission, both by rear-naked choke. He bowed to Leonid Efremov at an International Absolute Fighting Council show on April 30, 1997 and was throttled unconscious by Flavio Luiz Moura at an M-1 Global event on Oct. 9, 2004.
5: Post-fight bonuses banked by Oleynik in 12 appearances under the UFC flag. He was awarded “Performance of the Night” in wins over Greene, Hunt, Jared Rosholt, Viktor Pesta and Junior Albini, resulting in $300,000 of additional income.
9: Oleynik victories in one 34-day span. He pulled off the feat between Nov. 10, 2007 and Dec. 14, 2007, as he defeated Lukasz Wos, Karol Bedorf, Krzysztof Kulak, Adlan Amagov, Alavutdin Gadjiev, Timur Gasanov, Andrey Oleinik, Ishkhan Zakharian and Gela Getsadze across three events in Poland and Russia. None of the nine made it out of the first round.