UFC Fight Night 174 is set for Saturday night in Las Vegas, as the UFC APEX facility will host the latest card. Aleksei Oleinik and Derrick Lewis, a onetime UFC Heavyweight challenger, will take part in the headliner. The co-main event will match Omari Akhmedov against Chris Weidman in a middleweight fight.
Don’t miss our UFC betting preview about some of the top bouts on the MMA card.
UFC Fight Night 174: Oleinik vs Lewis Betting Preview (August 8)
UFC Main Card (ESPN+)
| Class | Fighters | Odds | Fighters | Odds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavyweight | Derrick Lewis | -195 | vs | Aleksei Oleinik | +160 |
| Middleweight | Chris Weidman | -135 | vs | Omari Akhmedov | +105 |
| Middleweight | Darren Stewart | -160 | vs | Maki Pitolo | +130 |
| WBantamweight | Yana Kunitskaya | -225 | vs | Julija Stoliarenko | +185 |
| Lightweight | Beneil Dariush | -180 | vs | Scott Holzman | +150 |
UFC Preliminary Card (ESPN / ESPN+)
| Class | Fighters | Odds | Fighters | Odds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Welterweight | Tim Means | +195 | vs | Laureano Staropoli | -135 |
| Lightweight | Nasrat Haqparast | -235 | vs | Alexander Munoz | +195 |
| Middleweight | Andrew Sanhez | +130 | vs | Joaquin Buckley | -160 |
| Middleweight | Kevin Holland | +325 | vs | Julija Stoliarenko | -450 |
| Featherweight | Gavin Tucker | -125 | vs | Justin Jaymes | -105 |
| Featherweight | Youssef Zalal | +325 | vs | Peter Barrett | -450 |
| Bantamweight | Irwin Rivera | -185 | vs | Ali Al Qaisi | +155 |
UFC Fight Night 174 | Derrick Lewis vs Alexei Oleinik
Derrick Lewis (23-7, -225) vs Alexei Oleinik (59-13-1, +185) features a prototypical “comeback” fighter in Lewis. His initial fights in the UFC promotion featured some spectacular knockouts, as he took down Jack May and Guto Inocente in vivid fashion. He suffered a couple of losses after that, but then his 2015 win over Viktor Pesta showed his pattern. Pesta tired himself out in the early going, trying to get Lewis to the ground. As the third round was winding down, Lewis finally found the opening he needed and delivered a big bomb, ending the fight with a knockout. He used a similar strategy in beating Marcin Tybura and Alexander Volkov. This brought him to a title fight against Daniel Cormier, but he lost that chance — as well as his next fight against Junior dos Santos. Those losses motivated him to take a break from the sport to work on conditioning and technique, and he came back improved on both defense and offense. His last two fights — wins over Blagoy Ivanov and Ilir Latifi — have set the stage for his confrontation with Oleinik.
Oleinik was already a seasoned, storied MMA fighter before coming to UFC in 2014, as he had been fighting for almost two decades. Soon after his debut he underwent knee surgery and lost a fight against Daniel Omeilanczuk in his comeback, but he started to move toward contender status until 2019. He lost to Alistair Overeem in a fight where it looked like he simply did not have enough in the tank down the stretch, and then Walt Harris only needed 12 seconds to knock him out. In 2020, though, things have taken a turn for the better, with a submission win over Maurice Greene and a decision victory over Fabricio Werdum. Lewis likes to wear down his opposition — and Oleinik is as likely as not to run out of fuel before the fight ends. This is why Lewis is, rightly, the favorite.
Prediction:
Lewis wins via knockout | Check the Odds
UFC Fight Night 174 | Chris Weidman vs Omari Akhmedov
Chris Weidman (14-5, -115) vs Omari Akhmedov (20-4-1, -105) looks to be a closely matched contest. Weidman worked his way to the UFC Middleweight title at one point but ended up getting dismantled in a title defense by Luke Rockhold. He has been a little uneven since then, beating some easier opponents but also taking a couple of losses by stoppage. He made a decision to go to light heavyweight, but Dominick Reyes delivered a knockout in the first round, and so now he’s back at the middleweight division, looking for a road back to contender status.
Akhmedov joined UFC seven years ago, and he has a pattern that is not working all that well for him against opponents with solid defense. He stacks up the points in the first two rounds but ends up getting demolished in the third. His losses to Sergio Moraes and Elizeu Zaleski both came on the cards and featured massive comebacks by both fighters. After moving to middleweight, Akhmedov showed a similar trend, as Marvin Vettori used the third round to come back and force a draw. Weidman will try to use his wrestling on Akhmedov and avoid the knockout blow.
Prediction:
Weidman wins via decision | Check the Odds
