Alexey Oleinik vs. Fabricio Werdum targeted for UFC 250

Fabricio Werdum’s first fight after a long anti-doping suspension will be against Alexey Oleinik at Sao Paulo’s UFC 250 on May 9, multiple sources told MMA Fighting following a report by Combate.

Werdum (23-8-1), who served a two-year suspension after testing positive for anabolic steroid trenbolone and it’s metabolite epitrenbolone in 2018, hasn’t competed since a fourth-round TKO defeat to Alexander Volkov months before.

The former UFC heavyweight champion was slated to face Oleinik at UFC Moscow in Sept. 2018 when he was notified of the anti-doping failure. Oleinik (58-13-1) took on replacement Mark Hunt at the event, submitting the fellow veteran with a rear-naked choke inside one round.

Oleinik, “The Boa Constrictor,” then suffered back-to-back stoppage defeats to Alistair Overeem and Walt Harris in 2019 before tapping Maurice Greene earlier this year in Las Vegas.

UFC 250 is set to take place at the Ibirapuera gymnasium in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and air live on pay-per-view. The current line-up includes Ketlen Vieira vs. Marion Reneau, Blagoy Ivanov vs. Augusto Sakai, and Bethe Correia vs. Pannie Kianzad.