Volkan Oezdemir is just a few days removed from his stunning 28 second KO victory over Misha Cirkunov and yet he already has another major fight on the horizon.
UFC officials confirmed today that Oezdemir will now fight Jimi Manuwa at UFC 214 in Anaheim, California on the 29th of July.
It had already been known that the UFC were planning to have the No.3 ranked Manuwa feature on the card due to the fact that they could then use him as a back-up plan if either of the events headliners, Daniel Cormier or Jon Jones, had to pull out.
Given that Oezdemir emerged unscathed from his blink-and-you’ll-miss-it fight with Cirkunov and is currently ranked No.5 in the division, that it made it an easy choice to book a fight between them.
After a lengthy spell out due to injury, Manuwa has made a big impression in the division recently with big knockout wins over both Ovince St. Preux and Corey Anderson, and could be in the title hunt if he’s able to continue his winning streak next time out.
Oezdemir is also making waves in the division though, with his derailment of Crikunov’s hype train coming just a few months after he produced another upset win over OSP, taking the Swiss fighter’s overall record to 14-1.
Along with Cormier Vs Jones II, Manuwa Vs Oezdemir joins a UFC 214 card that will include Renan Barao Vs Aljamain Sterling, The Korean Zombie Vs Ricardo Lamas and is still rumored to potentially be the landing spot for Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino’s next fight.
