Alexey Oleinik will try to break into the top 5 of the UFC heavyweight on the night of August 8-9 . At the tournament in Las Vegas, he will be confronted by the powerful Derrick Lewis , who mostly wins by knockouts. And at the same event, two fighters from Russia will fight: Omari Akhmedov and Yana Kunitskaya, and Akhmedov will have a fight against ex-champion Chris Wideman.
How to watch UFC Fight Night 174
We will not pass by the maincard UFC Fight Night 174: the beginning of the online exactly at (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:
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.
Before the fights
2020 is shaping up just fine for Oleinik so far. In January, he beat Maurice Green ahead of schedule, and in May, at UFC 249, he aggressively defeated Fabricio Werdum, who returned after a two-year doping ban. Now the promotion gave the 43-year-old Russian fighter a chance to make himself known even more - a duel against a top-5 opponent.
Derrick Lewis also goes on a two-win streak, but both by decision (split and unanimous). Lewis hasn’t made fans happy with knockouts lately, but he’s still very powerful and explosive: a few seconds and one hit is enough for him to drop an opponent.
In the main event of the tournament in Las Vegas, there will be a classic confrontation between a drummer and a wrestler: Lewis will look for opportunities to knock out Oleinik, and Alexey - to make him surrender on the ground. Although in the fight against Werdum, Oleinik showed a high tempo in the standing position, delivering 241 hits in 3 rounds.
This fight is a great opportunity for Oleinik to rise as high in the UFC as he has never been.
In the co-main event, Omari Akhmedov will fight Chris Weidman. Akhmedov has not lost in the UFC since 2016: since then he has 5 wins and 1 draw, but all the wins are by referee decisions. The ex-champion of the promotion has been performing poorly lately: 1 victory in 6 fights. Wideman tried to move up to light heavyweight, lost by knockout there and returned to middle.
Now Akhmedov has a chance to defeat the big name and former star, and for Chris - to return to victories.
- The complete maincard of UFC Fight Night 174 looks like this:
- 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
Oleinik’s rival spat on his food before the fight. They will fight in the UFC this weekend