Ultimate Fighting Championship

UFC Fight Night 103: Aleksei Oleinik taps Viktor Pesta

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 1:55 p.m. ET

Fansided, Daniel Shoemaker/Fansided

Here is how the UFC Fight Night 103 heavyweight fight between Aleksei Oleinik vs. Viktor Pesta played out.

Aleksei Oleinik (50-10-1) and Viktor Pesta (10-3) met at UFC Fight Night 103 in a heavyweight preliminary bout at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix on Sunday, Jan. 15. The fight was broadcast on FOX Sports 1.

Originally, Pesta was set to face Damien Grabowski. When Grabowski was removed from the card, Oleinik stepped in on three weeks notice. He impressed in his debut by knocking out Jared Rosholt at UFC Fight Night 57. In his follow-up performance, the Russian dropped a majority decision loss to Daniel Omielanczuk UFC Fight Night 91. That loss snapped an 11-fight winning streak.

Another fighter on the night’s card in danger of being cut, Pesta is coming off consecutive losses with a 1-3 record so far in the UFC. In his UFC debut, the Czech fighter dropped the first loss of his career in a unanimous decision defeat to Ruslan Magomedov at UFC Fight Night 41. He bounced back with a win over Konstantin Erokhin at UFC on FOX 14. That brief success was followed by knockout losses to Derrick Lewis at UFC 192 and Marcin Tybura at UFC Fight Night 92, respectively.

Round 1: The two tapped gloves and immediately exchanged in the middle. Oleinik backed Pesta down. Both were throwing heavy. Oleinik touched Pesta with a jab, but Pesta got him back with a check hook. Oleinik pushed him against the fence to work from the clinch. No luck and Pesta reversed. Pesta secured the body lock and tripped Oleinik to the ground. Pesta moved to side control to land hammer fists.

When Oleinik looked to escape, Pesta maintained control with a cradle position. Oleinik tried to scramble out, but Pesta spun to his back. Oleinik fell to his side and Pesta landed in side control. Pesta landed punches from the side as Oleinik looked to tie Pesta’s head down. Pesta moved into mount with Oleinik locking his arms around Pesta’s head, pulling him in tight to his body. Pesta remained still in the mount with his head locked down. All of a sudden Pesta tapped!

Oleinik had locked his head into a submission from the bottom and got the tap with a rare ezekiel choke. That was the first Ezekiel choke finish inside the UFC, but the tenth time for Oleinik to win with that technique.

What a vet! @OleynikUFC lands the first Ezekiel Choke in UFC History. It was Aleksei's 10th! #UFCPHoenix pic.twitter.com/bEZfcoRZH9

— #UFCPhoenix (@ufc) January 16, 2017

OFFICIAL RESULT: Aleksei Oleinik def. Viktor Pesta by. Submission. Round 1, 2:03.