Recently reinstated UFC light-heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier has stated that he’d like his next title defense to be against fast-rising contender Volkan Oezdemir.
‘DC’ made the declaration after consulting with fans as to who they’d like to see him lock horns with in the Octagon next.
“I asked and people wanna see you and I scrap,” Cormier informed Oezdemir on Twitter. “So you got it man! Let me figure a date now. They chose you bud! Congrats.”
Oezdemir has burst onto the UFC scene out of nowhere this year, compiling a three-fight winning streak against a string of respected opponents.
It all began when he racked up a split decision win over Ovince Saint Preux back in February, despite having come in as a short-notice replacement.
Following on from that he produced another upset against Misha Cirkunov, KO’ing him in just 28 seconds, while Jimi Manuwa didn’t fare any better, being knocked out in 42 seconds.
That’s got fans excited to find out how he’d fare against Cormier, who was handed back the 205lb title after the former champion who has now beaten him on two seperate occasions, Jon Jones, again managed to get stripped of his belt after failing a drug test.
The other fight that could potentially still be on ‘DC’s’ radar would be a rematch with the division’s current No.1 contender Alexander Gustafsson.
Cormier already narrowly defended his title against the Swede back in October of 2015, emerging with a split decision victory, but Gustafsson has since racked up two more wins and looked back to his best last time out with a fifth round KO of Glover Teixeira.
