What is age but a number for Aleksei Oleinik? The 42-year-old Russian entered Saturday's fight as the No. 12-ranked heavweight but faced some dangerous competition in former champion Fabricio Werdum, who was returning to the Octagon after a two year suspension for testing positive for trenbolone.
It took the first round for Werdum to shake off the rust, but it came with a price. He took quite a beating from Oleinik, who landed several hard punches in the first two minutes of the opening frame. Werdum survived the first round onslaught and seemed to come alive more in the second. With Oleinik suffering from fatigue after a busy first, Werdum took advantage with a guillotine choke attempt and some tough work on the ground. Oleinik successfully defending the submission attempts and still managed to catch the Brazilian with some haymakers in the round.
Gaining momentum, Werdum took the fight to the mat in the third round. Oleinik fought off some aggressive submission attempts before getting back to his feet with under two minutes in the fight. He landed a few more strikes before Werdum took the fight back to the canvas, where it stayed until the final horn.
The No. 12-ranked Oleinik came away with a hard-fought split decision win: 29-28, 29-28, and 28-29. With the win, he moves to 59-13-1, while Werdum's loss moves him to 23-9-1.