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UFC held its first show ever in Uruguay and as expected, the card had some big highlight-reel moments. One of those was Volkan Oezdemir's KO win over Ilir Latifi in an important Light Heavyweight clash.
Volkan 'No Time' Oezdemir entered the fight on the back of a three-fight losing streak. Daniel Cormier, Anthony Smith and Dominick Reyes handed the Swiss fighter losses in his recent outings and he was looking to get a big win to get his UFC career back on track.
His opponent, Ilir 'Sledgehammer' Latifi last fought in December 2018 and lost to Corey Anderson. Oezedmir was ranked #8 while Latifi was ranked #9 going into the fight.
It was Oezdemir's night as he put on a clinical performance against his Swedish opponent. The first round saw Oezedmir methodically pick Latifi apart with well-timed strikes. He stuffed a takedown attempt and spent the round reading the range and movements of his heavy-handed opponent.
Oezdemir amped up the pace in the second round as he started with a lead right. 'No Time' kept pressing forward and connected with punches and jabs.
A hard knee from Oezdemir rocked Latifi, sending him crashing into the mat. Oezdemir followed him for the finish but Latifi showed the resiliency to stand up back and fire shots in return. Oezdemir teed off on a vulnerable Latifi with elbows and right-hand shots.
Oezdemir didn't rush into another attempt to finish the fight and looked for another opening to exploit. It didn't take time for one to show up and Oezdemir made Latifi pay. It started with a low kick that hurt Latifi. A counter right followed by two hard-hitting left-hand strikes were enough to put Latifi to sleep and hand Oezdemir a big win.
The finish came at 4:31 of round number two and firmly puts Oezdemir back on track as he looks to chart his path towards the UFC Light Heavyweight title picture again.
