Ovince Saint Preux is moving up to heavyweight for a clash against Tanner Boser.
Originally scheduled to face Maxim Grishin at light heavyweight on June 26th on the main card of UFC Vegas 30, Saint Preux now finds himself a fresh opponent and a different weight class in the form of Boser. The bout has been agreed verbally, and contracts issued after Grishin withdrew from the contest due to visa issues. MMA Junkie first reported the news.
Saint Preux is coming off a second-round TKO loss to Jamahal Hill back in December, a fight in which he also missed weight. Perhaps the missed weight cut is a sign that it’s getting increasingly difficult for Saint Preux to make the light heavyweight limit of 205 pounds.
Saint Preux (25-15) has fought once before in heavyweight in May last year where he faced Ben Rothwell. Rothwell edged out Saint Preux via split decision. Since then, “OSP” has gone 1-1 after returning to light heavyweight.
Perhaps a second time at heavyweight will be a more successful outing for the former light heavyweight interim title challenger, now that “OSP” has experienced a heavyweight fight before and may now have a better understanding of the weight class than previously.
Boser (19-8-1) is coming off back-to-back losses for the first time in his UFC career after suffering losses to Andrei Arlovski and most recently against Ilir Latifi in a razor-close split decision a couple of weeks ago. Boser will be looking to get back into the win column after having a notable 2020 when he recorded two KO/TKO wins against Philipe Lins and Raphael Pessoa.
After the two wins in 2020, Boser became a fan favorite with his attitude to be proactive during the pandemic and with his fun personality outside the cage. Boser joined the UFC in 2019 after winning belts in the local Unified MMA promotion.
With this fight announced, the UFC Vegas 30 Fight Card includes the following bouts:
- Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov
- Tanner Boser vs. Ovince Saint Preux
- Michel Prazeres vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov
- Justin Jaynes vs. Charles Rosa
- Raoni Barcelos vs. Timur Valiev
- Marcin Prachnio vs. Ike Villanueva
- Jai Herbert vs. Renato Moicano
- Warlley Alves vs. TBA
- Damir Hadzovic vs. Yancy Medeiros
- Julia Avila vs. Julija Stoliarenko
- Danilo Marques vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu
- Nicolas Dalby vs. Tim Means
Who do you favor in this heavyweight matchup?
