“No. I’m the smallest heavyweight and I fight these guys that are 260, 280, 300 pounds and it’s no problem for me. They cut weight and they’re super-big, very heavy, very young, super-strong, and it’s no problem for me.”
His personal inquiry completed, Oleinik settles on an answer.
“Maybe I’m not the best, but I’m one of the not bad guys.”
He’s certainly more than “not bad,” and as of right now, he doesn’t have any designs on calling it a career, either.
“Nobody knows,” he says quickly, laughing, when asked how much longer he sees himself competing. “Maybe I have one fight and finish, maybe I have 10 fights still.
“I train with many good guys — Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Juan Espino, Andrei Arlovski, Junior Dos Santos, and many other strong and tough guys, and I’m not last in this group. If I train with these guys, if I’m sparring with these guys and I understand that I am one of the last guys, then of course, I must be finished, but if I am not last, so not yet.
“If I feel well, why must I finish — just because I’ve had a 20-year career?” he asks. “The most important is how I feel, and right now I feel a little tired, but I still have gas in my tank.”
After 25 years, 75 fights, 59 victories, and somewhere in the neighborhood of five-and-a-half hours of competition time, give or take a couple bouts with no record of fight time, still having gas left in the tank is simply another impressive accomplishment amongst the many accolades and achievements that make up Aleksei Oleinik’s remarkable, one-of-a-kind career.