LONDON – After charging up the UFC light heavyweight ranks, 2018 was not a banner year for Volkan Oezdemir. He plans to get this year off to a good start, though.
Oezdemir kicked off his 2018 campaign by unsuccessfully challenging then-champ Daniel Cormier for the 205-pound title. He attempted to rebound against Anthony Smith, but suffered a setback in the former of a submission defeat.
Now, Oezdemir sits on a two-fight skid for the first time. He’s taken the time to digest it, though, and after refocusing and returning to his original training camp in Switzerland, said he’s ready to bounce back vs. Dominick Reyes at UFC on ESPN+ 5 on Saturday.
“I learned my lessons in my last fight,” Oezdemir told MMA Junkie. “It was two defeats and I went back to the drawing board to do everything I have to do to be the best version of myself. I feel really good and ready for this fight.
“You always learn more or change more in defeats than yo do in victory. In victory you make slight changes. You need to make drastic changes when it comes to losses because you cannot lose the same way two times. Something has to happen. It puts more focus on this and things have to be different. You always make more changes when it comes to that.”
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Although he’s sitting on consecutive defeats, Oezdemir said he still feels like he’s among the top players in the light heavyweight division. Some significant fights are on the horizon, and he said taking out the undefeated Reyes should put him in the running to get a top name.
“I think I’ve cemented my place in the top of the division,” Oezdemir said. “What happens with the rest of the division is out of my hands. If (Thiago) Santos is fighting (Jon) Jones next and (Alexander) Gustafsson and (Anthony) Smith already planned, maybe I could jump on the card in Stockholm too after fighting Reyes and fight some top guy like Corey (Anderson) or whoever else is available.”
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