MMA Picks and Preview for UFC Fight Night 136

The UFC travels to Moscow, Russia this week for a rare Saturday Morning event. The show will start on Saturday morning at 10:30 AM and will take place at the Olimpiyskiy Arena in Moscow. The entire fight card will be broadcasted only on UFC Fight Pass, which is the UFC’s paid service that allows you to watch taped fights, some live events and much more!

UFC Fight Night 136 Main Event Breakdown

The main event for UFC Fight Night 136 will feature one of the heaviest hitters in the UFC against one of the submission specialists in the UFC as Heavyweights Mark Hunt and Alexey Oleinik will face off in a scheduled 5 round war! All though this fight is scheduled for 5 rounds, it is very unlikely it will go 5 rounds as both of these guys are finishers.

Hunt enters this fight for his 26th fight as a pro at the ripe age of 44 years old. Hunt is 13-12-1 overall and enters this fight off a unanimous decision loss at the hands of Curtis Blaydes. Hunt has fought the best of the best in the UFC’s Heavyweight Division and has proven his ability to strike with the best strikers and avoid being taken down by the best grapplers in the division. One thing that Hunt has is that one punch walk-off KO power that he has become so well known for.

Standing across the cage from Hunt will be 41-year old Alexey Oleinik. Oleinik is 56-11-1 in his professional career…..that is correct, you read that correct, he has 68 professional fights and it is starting to show his wear and tear as his chin isn’t what it use to be. Oleinik is mostly known for his submission game, which he specializes in a crazy ezekiel choke that earned him the name, “The Boa Constrictor”.

In order for Oleinik to be able to get the win, he has to be able to grab ahold of Hunt and that is not easy. Grapplers such as Frank Mir and Fabricio Werdum, as well as wrestlers like Brock Lesnar and Ben Rothwell, have all tried to take the big man down and most fail as he has immense power in both hands and can put you on your backside for getting close enough, to try and take him down. That will be the difference here as Oleinik is use to taking a few shots to get close enough to wrap his arms around you, to get the choke.

That might work with weaker caliber of talent but when you are up against a powerful striker like Hunt, it is a recipe for disaster. I lean to Hunt in this fight to get the win!

UFC Fight Night 136 Main Card

Mark Hunt 13-12-1 (-166) vs. Alexey Oleinik 56-11-1 (+153)
Nikita Krylov 25-5 (-120) vs. Jan Blachowicz 22-7 (+113)
Andrei Arlovski 27-16 (+112) vs. Shamil Abdurakhimov 18-4 (-122)
Thiago Alves 22-12 (+431) vs. Alexey Kunchenko 18-0 (-500)

UFC Fight Night 136 Prelims

C.B. Dollaway 17-8 (+140) vs. Khalid Murtazaliev 13-2 (-147)
Petr Yan 9-1 (-700) vs. Jin Soo Son 9-2 (+645)
Rustam Khabilov 22-3 (-700) vs. Kajan Johnson 23-12-1 (+559)
Mairbek Taisumov 26-5 (-410) vs. Des Green 21-7 (+389)
Magomed Ankalaev 10-1 (-427) vs. Marcin Prachnio 13-3 (+363)
Adam Yandiev 9-0 (+216) vs. Jordan Johnson 9-0 (-241)
Ramazan Emeev 17-3 (-500) vs. Stefan Sekulic 12-2 (+449)
Merab Dvalishvili 7-4 (-495) vs. Terrion Ware 17-7 (+444)

UFC Fight Night 136 Top Plays

Our top play for UFC Fight Night 136 will be Shamil Abdurakhimov over Andrei Arlovski. Listen, growing up in the business, one of my all-time favorite fighters was Andrei Arlovski but there comes a time in every fighters lifetime that they just have to hang up the gloves and call it a career. Arlovski is about 8 fights past that point and should of retired 2-3 years ago. He is pushing 40 years old now and just doesn’t have the chin to stand in the octagon and throw down with talented strikers.

That is exactly what he is up against with Abdurakhimov. Abdurakhimov is 18-4 overall and is 3-2 in the UFC. Abdurakhimov showed in his last fight that he has very intense striking and KO power, as he finished Chase Sherman in the first round. Sherman has been in some great fights and showed a great chin but Abdurakhimov left no questions unsolved as he KO’d him in the 1st round.

Arlovski has a glass chin and once Abdurakhimov lands a good clean shot on Arlovski, this fight is going to be over. That will make Abdurakhimov our top play of the week at -122.

UFC Fight Night 136 Underdog with a Shot Play

Keep in mind when we give out these underdogs with a shot plays, they are basically just a fighter that is not expected to win but we think they may have a shot. Last week, we won our Top Play and lost our Underdog with a Shot play but our underdog went the distance and lost a 3 round split decision, which meant that at least 1 judge felt he won. Had he won, we would have cashed a 3/1 play, which is a nice little return on your investment.

That being said, this week I’m looking at Kajan Johnson at +559. Johnson will be facing Rustam Khabilov, who is no threat for a finish. He has won his last 5 fights but all by decision. Johnson can absolutely go toe-to-toe with Khabilov and take this fight to a decision. If that happens, anything is possible! He is really the only fighter on the card that I would say has a chance as a big underdog and will be our underdog of the week.