Cezary Oleksiejczuk

Cesar Almeida vs. Cezary Oleksiejczuk
BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Oleksiejczuk (-200); Almeida (+170)

Round 1
It’s a battle of men named after Roman emperor Caesar in this middleweight “featured fight of the night.” Two hard-swinging gents will ply their trade against one another while referee Kerry Hatley keeps things on the up-and-up. Almeida (7-1, 3-1 UFC), former kickboxer, still hopes to one day rematch Alex Pereira in a cage. If he hopes to sniff another fight with the current light heavyweight king, he will have to get past Oleksiejczuk (16-3, 0-0 UFC) and then work his way up the 205-pound ladder. The strikers try to touch ‘em up before they start striking, but somehow they miss their connection a couple times.
When they start fighting, it is all about the feint and fake for Oleksiejczuk, who is in the center of the Octagon looking to pressure forward. The ex-kickboxer is fine staying at distance, as it is a place he would prefer so he can chamber his big right hand and power rear-leg kick. He blasts Oleksiejczuk with a body kick from said back leg, and he overswings a right hand that allows Oleksiejczuk to tackle him to the mat with excellent timing. Oleksiejczuk steps right over to side control, and he wraps up Almeida’s right arm beneath his leg in a partial crucifix. Almeida frees his wing after taking some strikes, and Oleksiejczuk smothers him with the heaviest of chest pressure.
Oleksiejczuk thumps his man with surprisingly effective shoulder strikes, pumping them one after another into the kickfighter’s jaw. Oleksiejczuk sits up to drive down left hands, and he reassumes half guard to keep Almeida from escaping. Almeida recovers to full guard, where he uses a single butterfly hook to push off the hip and get enough space to scoot his way to the wall. Oleksiejczuk leaps back on top of him into the closed guard, and he softens the Brazilian up with body shots. Oleksiejczuk stacks his man up to break the guard, positioning Almeida’s neck in the uncomfortable position between the cage wall and floor. Almeida bucks but is still stuck on the floor, albeit slowly squirming to his knees and then up to his feet. Oleksiejczuk knees his foe in the gut when standing, and he further wears on “Cesinha” with shoulder pressure. When the 10-second clapper sounds, Oleksiejczuk lashes out with an elbow and breaks, retreating until the horn blares.

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Oleksiejczuk
Dayne Fox scores the round: 10-9 Oleksiejczuk
Scottie Smith scores the round: 10-9 Oleksiejczuk

Round 2
Almeida intercepts a rapidly advancing Oleksiejczuk at the start of the round with a body kick. Oleksiejczuk pays him back with a one-two down the pipe, but another kick to the ribs from the Brazilian doubles him over briefly. Oleksiejczuk dodges a sweeping low kick and blocks one to his shoulder, with Almeida now standing firm in the middle of the Octagon. They both pop one another with the jab, and Oleksiejczuk loads up on a right hand and gets clubbed with a right-hand counter. The land from the former kickboxer shakes Oleksiejczuk up, who immediately shoots for a takedown and puts Almeida on his back with relative ease. Almeida is able to get to his knees much faster this go-round, and he even stands up despite Oleksiejczuk lacing his own leg between Almeida’s. Almeida hangs on with a kimura grip to potentially threaten or at least reposition them, but Oleksiejczuk ends up wrangling his man to the mat with a body lock takedown. He lands flat on top of Almeida, who intends on implementing butterfly hooks again to push off the hips until Oleksiejczuk steps over to half guard.
Oleksiejczuk uses his shoulder to smack Almeida in the face a couple times, but he gets complacent on top and drops his guard. This allows Almeida to sweep him and flip him to his back, where the Brazilian establishes top position in the guard. Oleksiejczuk is quick to kick off Almeida’s chest, pushing the former kickboxer over to his back so that Oleksiejczuk can reassume top control. Oleksiejczuk gets to the side fairly comfortably, and he drums down a hammerfist or two while Almeida scrambles on his own side. Oleksiejczuk elbows him on the ear and moves to half guard to ride out the round.

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Oleksiejczuk
Dayne Fox scores the round: 10-9 Oleksiejczuk
Scottie Smith scores the round: 10-9 Oleksiejczuk

Round 3
To the surprise of no one, Oleksiejczuk looks to implement his grappling and keep his 100% takedown rate tonight intact. He succeeds in tossing Almeida to his back, with each attempt coming easier than the last. He lands in side control with little resistance from the Brazilian, and he works the body with strikes. One elbow pounds directly into Almeida’s cup in a very rare foul from that angle, and Hatley takes a second and calls time. It is also observed on the replay that Almeida struck Oleksiejczuk to the head with his knee while they were grounded, which is a foul on his end as well. Penalties offset, repeat first down. The two re-engage after about a minute break, with Hatley resetting the fighters on their feet when they do. Oleksiejczuk takes a few seconds to gather a full head of steam, and he bulldozes Almeida over with his takedown tackle. Oleksiejczuk postures up every so often to drop down a strike, but he is much more content on shutting down the former kickboxer than banging it out with him.
Oleksiejczuk switches to elbows, and he isolates an arm-triangle choke and considers stepping into full mount. The Polish fighter bails on the choke attempt to remain in half guard keeping Almeida pinned flat on the canvas. Almeida slowly drags himself to his seat, then turns over to his knees, but no further before Oleksiejczuk climbs on his back. Oleksiejczuk drops down every pound of weight he has on top of Almeida to prevent him from standing, as Almeida spins about and still manages to wall-walk his way up. With 15 seconds left, Almeida flirts with a guillotine choke, jumping guard for it and losing it on the way down. The horn sounds, and the two middleweights have gone the distance. Oleksiejczuk collapses to his back in pain, while Almeida stands up and limps away.

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Oleksiejczuk (30-27 Oleksiejczuk)
Dayne Fox scores the round: 10-9 Oleksiejczuk (30-27 Oleksiejczuk)
Scottie Smith scores the round: 10-9 Oleksiejczuk (30-27 Oleksiejczuk)

The Official Result
Cezary Oleksiejczuk def. Cesar Almeida via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)