Former Bellator Middleweight Champion Alexander Shlemenko spoke about the upcoming fight of his compatriot Alexey Oleinik with American Jared Vanderaa at UFC 273. Initially, Alexei was supposed to meet with Swede Ilir Latifi, but the Swede withdrew due to illness.
“In fact, changing an opponent in a short time always has an effect, because you are preparing for one, and they give you another. But then again, if we take Alexey Oleinik, of all the fighters who compete in the UFC, no one can boast of such experience as he. Therefore, in his case, this will not affect as much as it seems to me, because, I repeat, he has a tremendous experience of playing in various tournaments. He has the experience of holding three fights in an evening.
Alexei was ready to fight at any second with any opponent. This is what makes him Alexey Oleinik. As far as I know, Alexei is having a hard time right now. Many fighters studied it and picked up the keys. Therefore, I am rooting for Alexei and I hope that everything will work out for him in this fight. And I also wanted to add in terms of terms: whether they are short or not, the most important thing is that there is functional training at the level. That is, if he is physically well prepared, then, in fact, it does not matter to you what kind of opponent you will have. Therefore, if Alexei is well prepared physically, then I hope for his victory, ”said Shlemenko.
