A light-heavyweight clash between Alexander Gustafsson and Volkan Oezdemir has been announced for UFC 227 In Los Angeles on August 4th.
Oezdemir had previously been booked to main event opposite Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua at UFC Fight Night 134 in Hamburg, Germany on July 22nd, but visa issues have led to him being pulled from that card.
As it turns out that works well though since the UFC have been seeking a suitable opponent for Gustafsson, and the 28-year-old Oezdemir, who has a 3-1 record in the promotion to date, fits the bill.
Oezdemir burst onto the big stage in 2017 with three wins in a row over Ovince Saint Preux, Misha Cirkunov and Jimi Manuwa, which led to him to a title shot against Daniel Cormier in January, where he would lose by TKO in the second round.
Now he tries to get back to winning ways against another former title contender, the 31-year-old Gustafsson, who also had an an unsuccessful attempt to take the belt from Cormier, though that was back in 2015, losing out by split decision.
Since then Gustafsson has only fought twice, claiming back-to-back wins over Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira.
Gustafsson Vs Oezdemir joins a UFC 227 card that will be headlined by two title fights, with TJ Dillashaw looking to defend his bantamweight belt in a rematch with Cody Garbrandt, while Demetrious Johnson looks to add yet another flyweight title defense to his stellar resume against Henry Cejudo.
