Aleksei Oleinik replaces Damien Grabowski, meets Viktor Pesta at UFC Fight Night 103

“The Boa Constrictor” is making his way to Arizona on short notice.

UFC officials recently announced Aleksei Oleinik (50-10-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) has agreed to replace Damien Grabowski (20-4 MMA, 0-2 UFC) and now meets fellow heavyweight Viktor Pesta (10-3 MMA, 1-3 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 103.

Featuring a featherweight headliner between Yair Rodriguez and UFC Hall of Famer B.J. Penn, UFC Fight Night 103 takes place Jan. 15 at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix. The card airs on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass, though the bout order hasn’t been finalized.

Oleinik, 39, has been fighting professionally since 1997 and boasts an incredible 50 career wins, including 40 by submission. The 39-year-old Russian opened his UFC run with back-to-back wins over Anthony Hamilton and Jared Rosholt but most recently suffered a majority-decision loss to Daniel Omielanczuk at July’s UFC Fight Night 91 event.

Meanwhile, Pesta is in desperate need of a victory after suffering back-to-back knockout losses to Marcin Tybura and Derrick Lewis. Pesta came to the UFC in 2014 as a 9-0 prospect, but but the 26-year-old Czech fighter has managed just one win in four trips to the octagon since then.

With the change to the card, UFC Fight Night 103 now includes:

• Yair Rodriguez vs. B.J. Penn
• Marcin Held vs. Joe Lauzon
• Court McGee vs. Ben Saunders
• Bryan Caraway vs. Jimmie Rivera
• Jussier Formiga vs. Sergio Pettis
• Augusto Mendes vs. Frankie Saenz
• Aleksei Oleinik vs. Viktor Pesta
• Tony Martin vs. Alex White
• Nina Ansaroff vs. Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger
• Devin Powell vs. Jordan Rinaldi
• Walt Harris vs. Chase Sherman
• Joachim Christensen vs. Bojan Mihajlovic
• Cyril Asker vs. Dmitrii Smoliakov

For more on UFC Fight Night 103, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.