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UFC on ESPN+ 7 stock watch: Who's up, who's down after St. Petersburg?

UFC on ESPN+7 is in the books, and it’s time to take stock in the performances. MMA Junkie takes a look at who’s up, who’s down and who’s flat after a night of action in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Stock Up: Alistair Overeem, Sergei Pavlovich, Roxanne Modafferi, Alexander Yakovlev, Michal Oleksiejczuk, Magomed Mustafaev.

Stock Down: Marcelo Golm, Antonina Shevchenko, Keita Nakamura, Marcin Tybura, Rafael Fiziev.

No change: Arman Tsarukyan, Krzysztof Jotko, Movsar Evloev.

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Stock up

Alistair Overeem

We knew Oleinik could catch anyone napping with a submission. We probably didn’t give Overeem enough credit for his ability to assess and neutralize the threat. Things didn’t look great for “The Reem” when a bolo seemed to send him into survival mode against the fence. But then he weathered the storm and nailed the Russian with a knee right out of his best days in K-1. For that, we say bravo.

Sergei Pavlovich

Even with an impressive highlight reel, Pavlovich got no easy treatment with a debut fight against Overeem last November. A matchup against Junior Dos Santos training partner Marcelo Golm on Saturday was just the thing he needed to remind us how terrifying he is in the first round. Let’s see if he keeps it up.

Roxanne Modafferi

“The Happy Warrior” also should be known as “Most Durable Upset Warrior.” Just about every second Modafferi was on her feet against Shevchenko, she was getting tooled. But she took all of the punches and put Shevchenko on her back, where every grappling flaw was exposed. Modafferi not only cashed as a +270 underdog, she knocked off a big prospect. Every time you count her out, you do so at your own peril.

Alexander Yakovlev

At 2-4, the Russian didn’t have much room for mistakes heading into his bout against da Silva. And he nearly wound up knocking himself out – a la Jarred Brooks against Jose “Shorty” Torres – when he slammed Silva to the mat in the second. But when the Brazilian exposed his neck against the fence, Yakovlev made him tap with an unconventional guillotine he called an old wrestling move.

Michal Oleksiejczuk

How many uppercuts does it take to stop a charging Russian? Three, give or take. Antigulov thought he’d shake Oleksiejczuk with an early blitz. Instead, he hit the canvas no less than three times as counters found his chin. Forty-four seconds later, Oleksiejczuk owned two straight first-round stoppages, a much better look after a one-year suspension for clomiphene.

Magomed Mustafaev

Sidelined two years from a broken arm suffered in a fight against Kevin Lee, Mustafaev had good reason to aim high in his return. It wasn’t terribly surprising when he couldn’t find Fiziev’s chin with the low-percentage spinning back kick. But he didn’t miss by much, so he tried again. All the elusiveness in the world couldn’t save Fiziev from the next shot, and Mustafaev calmly stopped his own fight after a few more follow-up shots. Pretty gangster and also ironic that Fiziev, signed for his Matrix-like kick dodges, gets flattened by one his first time out.

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