Volkan Oezdemir is very familiar with the next UFC light heavyweight title challenger.
Oezdemir lost a controversial split decision to Dominick Reyes in March. Reyes now is next in line for a title shot at UFC 205-pound champ Jon Jones at UFC 247 in February. Reyes handed Oezdemir his third straight loss at UFC London in a fight that Oezdemir is adamant he won.
Oezdemir thinks Reyes offers a different challenge for Jones, and considering the success Thiago Santos was able to have against the champ, he is intrigued to see what Reyes will be able to do.
“He’s going to bring a different style to the Jon Jones puzzle,” Oezdemir told MMA Junkie. “Santos was really close to beating Jon Jones, plus he was on one leg, and one really wobbly leg. His leg was – what did he have? ACL tear and meniscus tear he got in the first round of the fight – and even with this, he posed a lot of problems to Jon Jones. So it might be interesting to see what Reyes can do.”
Nobody has been able to figure out the Jones puzzle completely, and while Santos gave a valiant effort, ultimately, it wasn’t enough. Jones has been able to win fights both on the feet and on the canvas, and Oezdemir thinks an opponent has to be able to pose numerous of threats to beat him.
But he doesn’t think Reyes will be the one to dethrone Jones.
“I think the thing now also with Jon Jones is, don’t come to the Jon Jones fight and be one-dimensional,” Oezdemir said. “You have to surprise him and do a lot of different stuff. If you come there and just be a striker, then Jones will have a perfect game plan against you. Let’s see what Reyes will offer to Jones. I still see Jon Jones winning the fight.”
