Alexander Volkov withdraws from UFC St. Petersburg

Former Bellator heavyweight champion Alexander Volkov (30-7) has surprisingly dropped out of UFC St. Petersburg's main event this April 20th. The Russian was scheduled to face the former Strikeforce, Dream and K-1 heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem (44-17). Now the Dutch will be facing the Russian grappler Alexey Oleynik (57-11-1).

https://twitter.com/Solo_MMA/status/995470769999269888

This news was first reported by Ariel Helwani of ESPN.

There is no doubt that Overeem won't be happy at all, because the 38-year-old Dutch has two weeks to prepare for the new adversary who is known for his amazing grappling skills.

"The Demolition Man" last fought in November when he defeated Sergei Pavlovich via TKO in the first round.  Oleynik, meanwhile, is on a two-fight winning streak defeating Junior Albini at UFC 224 and Mark Hunt at UFC Fight Night 136.

The reasons for Volkov's withdrawing are still unknown.