Former title challenger Volkan Oezdemir will face RIZIN FF champion Jiri Prochazka in Prochazka’s UFC debut bout on July 11th.
A light heavyweight contender fight is in the works for UFC’s July 11 event. Former title challenger Volkan Oezdemir will face RIZIN FF champion Jiri Prochazka for Prochazka’s UFC debut. The match-up was first reported by ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. The fight will take place on UFC’s Fight Island, which has been reported to be located in Abu Dhabi.
Oezdemir (17-4 MMA, 5-3 UFC) has bounced back in his recent fights, winning his last two bouts against contenders Ilir Latifi and Aleksander Rakic. The 30-year-old quickly found himself in a title fight after only having three fights for the UFC in January of 2018, when he was stopped in the second round due to ground and pound against then-champion Daniel Cormier. Following that fight, Oezdemir faced contenders Anthony Smith and Dominick Reyes in main and co-main events respectively, but lost both contests. However, now back to form, a win over Prochazka would put Oezdemir back in the running for a second UFC title shot.
Prochazka (26-3-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will be making his highly-anticipated UFC debut after years of domination in RIZIN FF. Prochazka first appeared in RIZIN IN 2015, and collected a 12-1 record with the promotion over four years, finishing all but one of his opponents. He also avenged his only loss to Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal last year to become RIZIN’s light heavyweight champion. Prochazka then scored back-to-back first round knockout wins over former UFC veterans Fabio Maldonado and C.B Dollaway to defend his title. The 27-year-old has finished 25 of his 26 wins, with 23 of those finishes coming via knockout.
The July 11 event currently doesn’t have a main event, although rumors are that Kamaru Usman’s second title defense could headline the card. The current bouts on the card are as follows:
UFC July 11th Card:
- Pedro Munhoz vs. Frankie Edgar
- Jessica Andrade vs. Rose Namajunas II
- Pqige VanZant vs. Amanda Ribas
- Volkan Oezdemir vs. Jiri Prochazka
