The heavyweight division is starting to really get fresh and exciting as new contenders are flowing into the ranks of the top 10.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re young contenders though. As is the case with the 41-year old Russian “Boa Constrictor” Alexey Oleynik.

Oleynik has won four out of his last five outings all by way of submission (two Ezekiel chokes and two rear-naked-chokes). In his last fight, he headlined his very first UFC event as the organization made their debut in Oleynik’s home country of Russia for UFC Moscow when he took on Mark Hunt.

Now following the big win, Oleynik is ready to get even closer to the title as he is hoping for a fight with the former champion Stipe Miocic next according to Ariel Helwani. Oleynik’s management didn’t specify when they want the fight to happen, they just want it to be against Miocic.

The heavyweight title defense record holder Miocic hasn’t fought since his title losing effort against Daniel Cormier in their champion vs champion super fight at UFC 226 in July.

Prior to the fight, Miocic had gone unbeaten for three years amassing a six-fight winning streak that consists five KO/TKOs.

Miocic has recently been vocal about wanting a rematch with Cormier who will next be defending his heavyweight title against Derrick Lewis at UFC 230 on November 3. After that, assuming Cormier can get past Lewis, he will likely go on to face the returning fellow former champion, Brock Lesnar.

If Miocic ends up having to wait around for a rematch, it’s likely he will end up just taking another fight against someone else as by the time everything gets sorted out it will probably be around March when Cormier is planning to retire.

It just depends on whether or not Miocic will be interested in a high risk low reward matchup against Oleynik.

 

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 10/17/2018