Aleksei Oleinik out of UFC 270, Sergey Spivak now faces Greg Hardy

UFC heavyweight Greg Hardy will now face Sergey Spivak after Aleksei Oleinik was scratched from UFC 270.

Multiple people with knowledge of the shift told MMA Fighting that Hardy agreed to face Spivak after Oleinik was ruled out for undisclosed reasons. Ariel Helwani first reported the new matchup.

UFC 270 takes place Jan. 22 at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. Hardy vs. Spivak is expected to serve on the event’s pay-per-view main card on ESPN+ pay-per-view.

Spivak outpointed Oleinik in a June octagon meeting, but was stopped by Tom Aspinall in his most recent UFC appearance. His UFC record stands at 4-3; his debut came when he replaced Oleinik at UFC Ottawa in 2019 and suffered a loss to Walt Harris.

Hardy is currently on a two-fight skid after suffering knockout losses in fights against Marcin Tybura and Tai Tuivasa. The former NFLer’s career had been on an uptick with back-to-back wins before the concussive setbacks.

UFC 270 is headlined by a heavyweight title unifier between undisputed champ Francis Ngannou and interim titleholder Ciryl Gane.