UFC Fight Night 149: Overeem vs. Oleinik - Predictions and Picks

#4 Devin Clark vs. Ivan Shtyrkov

Newcomer Ivan Shtyrkov looks like a physical beast

I’ll be honest and say that until I started doing research for this preview, I’d never heard of Shtyrkov before. But after viewing his highlight reel – and checking out the names on his undefeated 15-0 ledger – it’s easy to see why the UFC have signed him. Simply put, going by said highlights, ‘The Ural Hulk’ is an absolute beast.

The Russian is huge for 205lbs, probably one of the most muscular fighters you’re likely to find at Light-Heavyweight, and everything he does comes with apparently insane power. UFC veterans Thiago Silva, Fabio Maldonado, Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva and Jeff Monson all count themselves amongst his victims, and while all of them are miles past their prime now, to take out wily veterans with ease like Shtyrkov has done is still somewhat impressive.

More impressively, ‘The Ural Hulk’ doesn’t appear to be too one-dimensional, as he’s got a lot of submissions on his record and he appears to have some powerful offensive wrestling, too. Essentially, he appears to be a very similar fighter to Ion Cutelaba, and while the Moldovan fighter has had some issues in the Octagon, he’s also one of the best prospects in the Light-Heavyweight division right now.

The issue, however, is that it’s hard to trust a muscular Russian fighter in his UFC debut after being burned in the past by the failure of the likes of Konstantin Erokhin, who looked equally physically imposing and then was horribly exposed as being nowhere near UFC level once he got into the Octagon. And of course, any fighter coming in looking that way and suddenly having to pass USADA tests will raise eyebrows.

If nothing else though, Shtyrkov appears to have been given a stylistically good opponent for his UFC debut. Clark came into the UFC as primarily a wrestling-based fighter, and he used that game to defeat Josh Stansbury, Jake Collier, and Mike Rodriguez. But his striking appears to be rudimentary at best, he was submitted with surprising ease by Jan Blachowicz in their fight, and he doesn’t look like a great natural athlete.

More worryingly, Clark was violently knocked out by both Aleksandar Rakic and Alex Nicholson, largely because he found himself walking into punches that he seemingly never saw coming. Against an explosive power puncher like Shtyrkov, that could well lead to his doom.

I think Shtyrkov will probably run into issues in the UFC once he steps up in competition – against a veteran like Glover Teixeira or a grinder like Corey Anderson, for instance – but this looks like a winnable debut for him and I think he’ll probably pull it out in highlight reel fashion – perhaps winning a bonus along the way.

The Pick: Shtyrkov via first round knockout