How will Ovince Saint Preux’s heavyweight experiment go?
I’ll admit: I didn’t have “OSP goes up to 265” on my 2020 MMA bingo card.
For one thing, the last we saw from [autotag]Ovince Saint Preux[/autotag], he out-slicked a noted finisher in Michael Oleksiejczuk and earned a “Performance of the Night” bonus for racking up yet another one of his patented Von Flue choke finishes.
For another, I wouldn’t have anticipated Saint Preux (24-13 MMA, 12-8 UFC) go up against a lumbering bruiser like [autotag]Ben Rothwell[/autotag], to whom he’s going to give up a fair bit of weight, in his 265 debut.
But then you look at the bigger picture and think, why not?
OSP has been part of the UFC light heavyweight division since 2013. Prior, he was a Strikeforce 205 mainstay going back to 2010, He’s cobbled together an entire respectable career but never quite gotten to the top, peaking with an interim title fight lost to Jon Jones in 2016.
If not now for the 37-year old competitor, then when?
Rothwell (37-12 MMA, 7-6 UFC), who is on the back nine of his career but is still dangerous, is exactly the sort of test OSP should take at HW. If he passes this test, maybe this weight class is meant to be. If not? He’s still got that last exciting performance at 205 to fall back on.
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