[autotag]Volkan Oezdemir[/autotag] has taken on stiff competition throughout his UFC career and plans on keeping it that way.
After dropping three straight fights, Oezdemir (17-4 MMA, 5-3 UFC) finds himself back on the road to title contention, with back-to-back wins over Ilir Latifi and Aleksandar Rakic. And with many pivotal light heavyweight matchups coming up, Oezdemir will wait to see how things play out.
“Nothing is fixed now. I have some personal stuff that I need to attend,” Oezdemir told MMA Junkie on Tuesday. “Plus all the big dogs in the division have a fight lined up, so I am training hard and waiting to see how things unfold.”
Oezdemir has two potential opponents in mind: Former UFC title challenger [autotag]Thiago Santos[/autotag], who’s currently healing from a torn ACL, and former two-time UFC title challenger [autotag]Alexander Gustafsson[/autotag], who recently expressed interest in coming out of retirement.
“Thiago Santos will be a fun fight that will bring a lot of fireworks, and I also still want the Gustafsson fight,” Oezdemir said. “I know he plays dead until he find an easy fight, but in the meantime I want to stay active and fight the stronger guy out there.”
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Constantly traveling and getting looks from all over the world, Oezdemir is currently training in Thailand.
“I love Thailand, and I love the training there,” Oezdemir said. “I went a few times with Alistair Overeem, and it’s the perfect location to go when it’s winter back home. You eat good, you train good, and you’re enjoying life. It’s a no-brainer.”
In his last outing in December, Oezdemir edged Rakic at UFC on ESPN+ 23, putting a halt to Rakic’s undefeated UFC winning streak. But “No Time” plans on leaving no doubt moving forward by putting guys away, which is what once propelled him to a title shot after just three UFC fights.
“Rakic started strong but lost momentum after the first round,” Oezdemir said. “I injured his leg, and it made him slow down a lot. It wasn’t a decisive victory, and this is something I don’t want to have in my future anymore. I’ve been on the wrong end of a split decision fight (Reyes), and this is because I didn’t do enough. My goal is to finish fights so there is nothing to be questioned about.”
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Oezdemir’s controversial split decision loss to Dominick Reyes, who challenges Jon Jones for the title Saturday, was a tough pill to swallow. It handed Oezdemir his third straight loss and helped push Reyes to a No. 1 contender fight against former UFC middleweight champ Chris Weidman.
The win over Weidman earned the undefeated Reyes a title shot against Jones, but Oezdemir thinks it’s highly unlikely the title will change hands.
“I think I took a lot out of him,” Oezdemir said. “He went AWOL after our fight and didn’t even text back his soon to be ex-new camp. He bounced back for his last fight, but he is up to a big task. I wish him luck, but I see Jones winning the fight.”
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