While
Volkan
Oezdemir has likely already peaked at this stage of his career,
he remains a Top 10 contender in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight division.
The Swiss kickboxer will enter his 2023 campaign on the heels of
three losses in four appearances. Oezdemir, 33, last competed on
Oct. 22, when he dropped a unanimous decision to former
Fight
Nights Global champion
Nikita
Krylov as part of the UFC 280 undercard. The aptly named “No
Time” sports seven sub-minute finishes on his resume, highlighted
by lightning-strike knockouts of
Misha
Cirkunov and
Jimi Manuwa
in 2017.
As Oezdemir awaits word on his next assignment from UFC
matchmakers, a look at a few of the rivalries that have helped
chart his course to this point:
American Top Team’s Anundson submitted the previously unbeaten
Oezdemir with a neck crank in the second round of their Bellator
115 light heavyweight showcase on April 4, 2014 at the Reno Events
Center in Reno, Nevada. Festivities were brought to a halt 3:19
into Round 2. A three-time NCAA All-American wrestler at Newberry
College in South Carolina, Anundson overwhelmed the Swiss prospect
with relentless pace and determination. He delivered seven
takedowns in the first round alone, suffocating Oezdemir in close
quarters. In the middle stanza, Anundson grounded his counterpart
yet again, transitioned to his back and locked in the fight-ending
crank.
Oezdemir refused to play the role of wide-eyed Octagon rookie and
made the most of his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut when he
upset “OSP” by split decision in a UFC Fight Night 104 light
heavyweight feature on Feb. 4, 2017 at the Toyota Center in
Houston. All three judges struck 29-28 scorecards: J.J. Ferraro and
Joe Soliz for Oezdemir, Sal D’Amato for St. Preux. A short-notice
fill-in for the injured
Jan
Blachowicz, Oezdemir set the tone with an aggressive first
round. He chewed up the inside of St. Preux’s lead leg with kicks
and backed him to the fence with heavy punching bursts. Oezdemir’s
pace slowed in Round 2, but he remained committed to his assault on
the former University of Tennessee football player’s lower
extremities. St. Preux made his move in the third, where he pressed
forward with body-head punching combinations. He had Oezdemir
teetering on the brink with a blistering volley of punches in the
closing seconds but could not force the stoppage he needed and left
his fate in the hands of the judiciary.
The
American Kickboxing Academy star retained his undisputed light
heavyweight championship and did so in one-sided fashion when he
disposed of Oezdemir with punches in the second round of their UFC
220 co-main event on Jan. 20, 2018 at the TD Garden in Boston. The
stoppage was called 2:00 into Round 2. Cormier withstood an early
assault from the aggressive Swiss upstart, slowed the pace and
cracked him with a left hook that resulted in significant damage to
the Henri Hooft understudy’s right eye. He followed with a
takedown, advanced immediately to Oezdemir’s back and cinched a
rear-naked choke in the closing seconds. The bell saved the
challenger but only prolonged the inevitable. Cormier struck for
another takedown in Round 2, moved to the mounted crucifix and cut
loose with short punches until referee
Kevin
McDonald had seen enough. The setback was Oezdemir’s first in
nearly four years.
“The Devastator” pushed his record to 11-0 and used Oezdemir as a
steppingstone to an eventual title shot against
Jon Jones, as
he eked out a contentious split decision in their featured UFC
Fight Night 147 attraction on March 16, 2019 at the O2 Arena in
London. All three members of the cageside judiciary scored it
29-28: Andy Roberts for Oezdemir, Mark Collett and Paul Sutherland
for Reyes. Oezdemir forced the
Joe Stevenson
protégé to fight off of his back foot with relentless forward
pressure and strong punching combinations. Reyes, meanwhile,
focused his attack on the body, head and legs, kept his composure
under duress and capitalized when the Swiss standout seemed to dial
down his aggression in the third round. He outlanded Oezdemir by a
narrow 34-23 margin in significant strikes across the final 10
minutes and denied all six of his attempted takedowns.
Oezdemir curried the requisite favor on the scorecards with a
stellar third round and escaped with a controversial split verdict
over
Aleksandar
Rakic in the UFC Fight Night 165 co-headliner on Dec. 21, 2019
at Sajik Arena in Busan, South Korea. All three judges saw it
29-28: Evan Field for Rakic,
Mark Collett
and Anthony Dimitriou for Oezdemir. Rakic landed the more
consequential strikes, secured the fight’s only takedown and made a
pass at a guillotine choke in the first round. Oezdemir made his
case in the third, where he connected on 57 total strikes, absorbed
only 35 in return and turned away all three of his opponent’s bids
for takedowns, handing the 6-foot-5 Austrian his first defeat in
more than eight years.