UFC light heavyweight [autotag]Volkan Oezdemir[/autotag] won’t revel in [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag]’ continued legal and personal woes.
Oezdemir, a former title challenger, finds himself on the cusp of contention once again after picking up two straight wins over Ilir Latifi and Aleksandar Rakic.
Although he knows he likely needs a couple more solid wins to get another crack at the belt, he won’t trash Jones over his recent DWI as a method to try and get on the champion’s radar. Oezdemir is confident Jones competes this year if the UFC is able to hold events during the coronavirus outbreak.
“Every time there’s something coming up, and some people hit me up and send me links and stuff like that, and they’re like, ‘Oh, once again.’ But who cares?” Oezdemir told MMA Junkie. “For me, if he’s able to compete, everything is good with him, then it’s fine. I don’t want to be the one pointing the finger at … I don’t want to be talking about somebody like that in their down moment. But, yeah, I think he’s gonna be competing.
“Some people were talking about stripping him of the title, but I think this has nothing to do with it, and I think of course he deserves the title, because he’s the legitimate champion and obviously being the champion, he has to defend it. So hopefully we will see him fight again this year.”
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Unlike Oezdemir, Thiago Santos and Dominick Reyes – two fighters who took Jones to the brink but fell short – were quick to mock Jones for his recent mishaps. Both men are campaigning hard for a rematch, with Santos even suggesting a fight between him and Reyes for the vacant title.
But Oezdemir doesn’t think any of that is necessary as long as Jones is willing to fight.
“There were some talks about Thiago Santos and Reyes doing some interim title,” Oezdemir said. “It could be nice to give the division a new situation, but that’s only if Jones is away for some time or unwilling to fight, waiting for bigger fights. You never know.
“I’m not really into it. I’m not buying into it, because Jones has to be fighting this year, and I hope he does.”