Ilir Latifi Booked To Face Veteran Aleksei Oleinik At March 26th UFC Card

Ilir Latifi is back in the UFC schedule, now being lined up to face Aleksei Oleinik at UFC’s March 26th “Fight Night” card.

The fight, which was first reported by Cole Shelton of BJPenn.com, is joining a card that will take place at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, USA.

Latifi picked up his first win at heavyweight last year, defeating Tanner Boser via unanimous decision. He had an unsuccessful debut at the weight class a year before then, losing to Derrick Lewis.

Latifi was originally expected to face undefeated heavyweight Alexandr Romanov at UFC’s February 19th card. However, it was recently reported that Romanov was pulled from that fight.

The matchup gives Oleinik a chance to snap a three-fight losing streak. This included two losses from last year, getting finished by Chris Daukaus and losing a decision to Serghei Spivac.

Oleinik’s next appearance will see him continue to chase his milestone 60th pro win.

UFC’s March 26th card is without a main event at the moment. Here are the bouts that have been reported for the show thus far.

Bout 14: Michelle Waterson (18-9) vs. Amanda Ribas (11-2) (Strawweight)

Bout 13: Tucker Lutz (12-2) vs. Choi Seung-woo (10-4) (Featherweight)

Bout 12: Sara McMann (12-6) vs. Karol Rosa (15-3) (Bantamweight)

Bout 11: Askar Askarov (14-0-1) vs. Kai Kara-France (23-9) (Flyweight)

Bout 10: Montel Jackson (11-2) vs. Danaa Batgerel (10-2) (Bantamweight)

Bout 9: Matt Brown (23-18) vs. Bryan Barberena (16-8) (Welterweight)

Bout 8: Nate Landwehr (15-4) vs. Lerone Murphy (11-0-1) (Featherweight)

Bout 7: Joanne Wood (15-7) vs. Alexa Grasso (13-3) (Flyweight)

Bout 6: Matheus Nicolau (17-2-1) vs. David Dvorak (20-3) (Flyweight)

Bout 5: Aliaskhab Khizriev (13-0) vs. Abusupiyan Magomedov (24-4-1) (Middleweight)

Bout 4: Neil Magny (25-8) vs. Max Griffin (18-8) (Welterweight)

Bout 3: Marc Diakiese (14-5) vs. Viacheslav Borshchev (6-1) (Lightweight)

Bout 2: Luis Saldana (15-7) vs. Bruno Souza (10-2) (Featherweight)

Bout 1: Aleksei Oleinik (59-16-1) vs. Ilir Latifi (15-8) (Heavyweight)