With luck, the third time will be the charm in the booking of UFC light heavyweights Volkan Oezdemir and Ilir Latifi.
Goodbye, New Jersey. Hello, Uruguay. Ilir Latifi and Volkan Oezdemir will be throwing down a little bit later than expected, it was made official Tuesday. After a report by ESPN’s Brett Okamoto a few days back, the UFC made the announcement that Latifi vs. Oezdemir would join the UFC Uruguay card on August 10.
Third time's a charm! 🇺🇾@Volkan_Oezdemir vs @LatifiMMA moves to #UFCUruguay pic.twitter.com/3N0YroBj2m
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) July 23, 2019
That’s just a week later than their originally planned meeting at UFC Newark (UFC on ESPN 5). Which was itself a make-up date for the pair’s original booking at UFC Stockholm in June.
Lost yet? The move reportedly comes as a result of visa issues. Oezdemir faced a battery charge last year in Florida, where the Swiss fighter had been training. Despite the charge later being dropped, it appears likely Oezdemir has hit a road block in terms of fighting in the States as a result.
“No Time” last competed in March at UFC London, where he lost a split decision to Dominick Reyes. Prior to that, he dropped a fight to Anthony Smith at UFC Moncton in Canada, losing via submission. Oezdemir (15–4) has not won a fight since 2017, prior to his title challenge against Daniel Cormier at UFC 220.
Latifi (14–6 (1)) has won two of his last three fights. He’s coming off a loss to Corey Anderson, however.
UFC Uruguay takes place August 10 at the Antel Arena in Montevideo, Uruguay. The card is headlined by a women’s flyweight title fight between Valentina Shevchenko and Liz Carmouche.
