Getty Derrick Lewis and Aleksei Oleinik.
The heavyweights will be in the spotlight on UFC Fight Night as Derrick Lewis takes on Aleksei Oleinik on Saturday night from Las Vegas.
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Neither the prelims (6 p.m. ET) or the main card (9 p.m. ET) will be on regular TV, but anyone in the US can watch all the fights–both prelims and main card–via ESPN+. It costs $4.99 for a month or $49.99 for a year:
Or, if you also want the new Disney+ streaming service and Hulu in addition to ESPN+, you can get all three for $12.99 per month, which works out to 25 percent savings:
Get the ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu Bundle
Once signed up, you can then watch Lewis vs Oleinik and all of UFC FIght Night on your computer via ESPN.com, or you can watch on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or other compatible streaming device via the ESPN app.
UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs Oleinik Preview
While many eyes are on the card for UFC 252 between Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier, a division impacting fight is happening on Saturday as Derrick Lewis takes on Aleksei Oleinik. Lewis, AKA the Black Beast, has won his last two fights and doesn’t plan for the fight against Oleinik to go all five rounds. He feels like he’s close to 100 percent after some injuries and thinks he can unleash early.
“I’ve been trigger shy,” Lewis told mmafighting.com. “I was a new creature. A different type of body coming into the octagon, feeling different, lighter, feeling faster and just wanted to test it out. … Now that I’ve tested it out going all three rounds in my last two fights, I feel like I’m more comfortable and I can really let loose in the first round and not gas out. That’s what I plan on doing Saturday.”
Oleinik, also known as the Boa Constrictor, has won his last two as well an has a whopping 46 submission victories to his name. It’s quite the contrast of styles, with Lewis known for his knockout power, knocking out opponents in 18 of his 23 wins. Oleinik’s last victory came against Fabricio Werdum in May. But he’ll be at quite the weight disadvantage against Lewis, who weighed in as 265 pounds. Oleinik tipped the scales at 227, so he will to make up for his weight disadvantage with speed and submission savvy.
Lewis found himself in some controversy for spitting in his opponents food before the matchup, per the New York Post.
“I believe it’s missing some ingredients. We’re still going to get him his meal; it’s very important. It’s fight week, I know he’s going to be hungry,” Lewis said. “It looks good, right? I’m going to add some flavor to his food. He probably won’t even notice. He’s from Russia, they don’t have any soul food over there.”
Here’s the full card for the event:
- Derrick Lewis vs. Alexey Oleynik
- Omari Akhmedov vs. Chris Weidman
- Darren Stewart vs. Maki Pitolo
- Julija Stoliarenko vs. Yana Kunitskaya
- Beneil Dariush vs. Scott Holtzman
- Tim Means vs. Laureano Staropoli
- Kevin Holland vs. Joaquin Buckley
- Nasrat Haqparast vs. Alex Munoz
- Andrew Sanchez vs. Wellington Turman
- Justin Jaynes vs. Gavin Tucker
- Peter Barrett vs. Youssef Zalal
- Irwin Rivera vs. Ali AlQaisi
Lewis is installed as a -190 favorite for the main event bout, with Olenik coming in at +155.