Aleksei Oleinik returned to action for the first time since leaving the UFC, but things didn’t go in his favor.
In the REN TV Fight Club main event at Dynamo Volleyball Arena in Moscow, Russia, Oleinik (60-17-1 MMA) took on fellow UFC veteran Oli Thompson in a heavyweight bout. The result was a violent finish that left Oleinik staring at the lights.
Thompson (21-16 MMA) unleashed a crushing right hand that sent Oleinik crashing to the canvas with 35 seconds left in the first round.
Check out video of the arrival below (via Twitter):
Thompson, 43, returned to the win column for the first time since 2020, snapping a four-fight losing skid. His last win was also a first-round stoppage; a 23-second knockout of Szymon Bajor at Fight Exclusive Night 28 on June 13, 2020.
Oleinik, 45, competed in his last UFC fight in October 2022, where he dropped a unanimous decision to Ilir Latifi. “The Boa Constrictor,” known for slapping Ezekiel’s chokehold, had a 17-fight UFC streak that began in 2014. During that streak, Oleinik won nine fights and finished seven of those fights in the first round.
The story originally appeared on MMA Junkie