At BKFC 71 in Dubai, former UFC heavyweight contender Aleksei Oleinik’s bareknuckle boxing debut ended in devastating fashion when Brazilian powerhouse Geronimo dos Santos knocked him unconscious with a single, thunderous right hand.
The Friday night bout at Dubai Tennis Stadium saw the 47-year-old “Boa Constrictor” face off against the imposing “Mondragon” in what many considered an unexpected career move for the submission specialist. With approximately 20 seconds remaining in the first round, dos Santos unleashed a vicious overhand right that connected flush with Oleinik’s chin, sending him crashing face-first to the canvas in an unconscious heap.
“He didn’t think he was the one to lose him,” observers noted as the knockout unfolded. “Here’s overhand right and down goes Alexi Owek. That’s it, that’s it, he’s not getting up.”
The loss comes at a particularly difficult time for Oleinik, who recently revealed his challenging personal circumstances following a divorce after 17 years of marriage.
“My situation isn’t good. For 17 years I’ve worked for my family, and now I don’t have a family. Unfortunately, we divorced. Everything I had, I’ve left to my wife and family,” Oleinik told Sport 24. “I’ve left them a house for $1,500,000, cars, jewelry. I didn’t take a single dollar with me [when leaving US].”
The veteran fighter, who has competed in an astonishing 135 professional fights throughout his career, has been candid about his current motivations for continuing to compete despite his body and mind telling him otherwise.
“I have 2-3 fights left. I can’t physically do it anymore. I don’t want to, and I can’t. My psychological resources are depleted too. I don’t want to fight,” he admitted in a recent interview. “I need that money for housing. I don’t have a place to live. Sorry, but if my leg breaks now and can’t be fixed anymore, I won’t be able to earn anything at all.”
For dos Santos, the victory marks a welcome return to the win column after losing his previous three professional bouts. The 44-year-old Brazilian, who was once considered for the UFC roster, demonstrated that his punching power remains formidable even at this stage of his career.
Oleinik’s combat sports journey had shown promising signs before this setback. He secured a submission victory over Fernando Rodrigues Jr. in December 2023 and made a successful traditional boxing debut with a first-round knockout win over Takhir Dzablaev in August 2023.
However, this bareknuckle boxing experiment proved a bridge too far for the submission specialist, whose words now carry a poignant tone given the outcome: “If I keep going now… selling my health for money, I’ll earn 200 thousand, then 180, 90, 70… Then I’ll be crawling out to the ring for thirty thousand, then for twenty. Well, I don’t want to reach that point and gradually sell myself off in parts, piece by piece, like many fighters have done and still do. I don’t want that. But I’m forced to do it.”
As Oleinik recovers from this knockout loss, the MMA world is left to wonder what comes next for the veteran, who seems caught between financial necessity and physical reality at this late stage of his remarkable career.
