Travis Browne V Olexsiy Oliynyk: What will go down:

Can 'Hapa' bring an end to his three fight slide? 

The featured bout of the Prelims of UFC 213, sees an important Heavyweight meeting between the struggling Travis 'Hapa' Browne, and submission specialist Olexsiy Oliynyk. Hawaii striker Browne, was stopped by Derrick Lewis is his last octagon appearance at UFC Fight Night Halifax, while Russian veteran Oliynyk scored an astonishing tenth Ezekiel choke finish of his twenty year career, as he submitted Viktor Pešta.

Once one of the most exciting young Heavyweight contenders, Travis Browne has seen his career spiral out of control as of recent times. With only two wins in his last seven outings, Browne has twice lost to Fabrício Werdum, along with KO losses to Cain Velasquez and the veteran Andrei Arlovski. Browne's last octagon victory came against Matt 'Meathead' Mitrione in January 2016, with controversial eye pokes tarnishing the legitimacy of the win. Browne's only other victory in the aforementioned period came against the now retired Brendan 'Big Brown' Schaub. Despite his uninspiring form, Browne was certainly a force to be reckoned with in his early days in the UFC, stopping the giant Stefan Struve with a 'superman' punch, before a front kick KO of Alistair Overeem, was sandwiched between two elbow knockouts of Gabriel Gonzaga and Josh Barnett. A staple tactic for Browne utilised earlier in his UFC spell, was his devastating elbow strikes against the fence. When an opponent would shoot for a double leg or engage an over-under clinch, Browne would slip out and unleash crashing elbows to the side of his opponent's head, more often then not, ending the bout.

With an almost ludicrous record of 51-10, forty year-old Russian grappler Olexsiy Oliynyk, has flown under the radar for much of his professional career, but with an unbelievable 42 submission wins on his record, Oliynyk is certainty a danger when the fight goes to the ground, or arguably stays on the feet. 'The Boa Constrictor{s}' finishing methods can range form armbars, standard rear-naked chokes, guillotines, heel hooks, scarf hold headlocks, arm triangles, triangles and arguably his most impressive, Ezekiel chokes. Currently occupying the #14 rank in the Heavyweight divison, an eye catching win over 'Hapa' could see both men trade places with Browne currently sitting just above the top 10 in the #9 spot, despite his KO loss to Lewis.

It could be argued that Browne has the more technical and skilled striking against someone like Oliynyk, but not many Heavyweight's on the roster today can deal with the grappling of the Russian veteran. Interesting matchup.

Travis Browne via split decision.