Volkan Oezdemir got back to his winning ways at UFC Uruguay, knocking out Ilir Latifi in the second round.
Volkan Oezdemir hadn’t won a fight since July of 2017 going into his bout with Ilir Latifi at UFC Uruguay. Prior to that, his five-fight winning streak, which featured three first-round finishes, guided the Swiss 29-year-old to a light heavyweight title-shot in the UFC. Since that title-fight, a loss to current heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, Oezdemir was 0-3. In his most recent bout, Oezdemir lost a controversial split-decision to Dominick Reyes at UFC London in March.
Latifi had lost his most recent bout as well. Falling to Corey Anderson via unanimous decision at UFC 232, Latifi snapped his two-fight winning streak. The UFC veteran was 5-2 in his last seven fights, and 2-2 in his last four. His bout with Oezdemir had been booked four times, with both fighters pulling out of bouts for various reasons.
Oezdemir landed a heavy left hand about a minute into the fight, after a feeling out process began the bout. Latifi responded with a solid takedown, but was unable to keep Oezdemir on the ground for long. Latifi then clinched up with Oezdemir, forcing him against the cage halfway through the first round. Oezdemir opened up a small cut underneath the right eye of Latifi, and landed a strong knee to the head of Latifi with about two minutes left in the round. Oezdemir continued to land heavy strikes from distance, and stuffed a takedown from Latifi, before forcing him against the cage as the first round ended.
Latifi was on the back foot early in round two, clearly wary of Oezdemir’s power. Latifi struggled to get into range without eating strikes as Oezdemir controlled the center of the Octagon. Oezdemir was able to drop Latifi midway through the second round with yet another knee to the chin. Oezdemir swarmed Latifi, and landed a few strikes, but the Swede was able to get back to his feet.
Latifi was in rough shape, clearly exhausted, and Oezdemir played it cool and took his time. He walked down Latifi, and eventually landed a huge left hook right on the chin of Latifi, dropping him to the canvas. Oezdemir would land another to his downed opponent for good measure, earning the impressive KO victory.
Volkan rocks Latifi in round 2! #UFCUruguay pic.twitter.com/ALrirpJQvv
— UFC (@ufc) August 11, 2019
Result: Volkan Oezdemir def. Ilir Latifi by KO (punches) in Round 2 (4:31)
Check out all of the results from UFC Uruguay here!
