Paris, France – It was a homecoming of sorts for UFC light heavyweight Volkan Oezdemir at UFC Paris on Saturday night where he earned a first round submission victory over Bogdan Guskov in front of a crowd with a lot of family and friends.
“I’m real happy to have been fighting in France. Just kind of my home crowd. I’m real happy to be fighting here. A lot of family and friends were able to join. It’s the country next door so it’s really amazing,” Oezdemir told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.
“I was really happy to be able to perform here, in front of my crowd and the French crowd.”
Oezdemir was supposed to face Azamat Murzakanov at UFC Paris, but his opponent pulled due to unknown circumstances. Guskov was signed into the UFC to face Oezdemir on Saturday.
“I actually focused really on myself this camp. It didn’t really matter who I was fighting, but both of those guys were strikers so it was fine for me. I was able to work my striking, my wrestling, but most of all I worked on my skillset. Everything I was lacking I tried to put cover into it,” he said.
This camp marked his third at the All Stars camp which is home to fighters such as Alexander Gustafsson and Khamzat Chimaev. For Oezdemir it’s a great fit at this point in his career.
“Once you’re able to protect the takedown and stand back up against this guy (Chimaev) you know you’re going to be able to do that against everybody else,” said Oezdemir.
“The intensity he brings all camp it’s really amazing. Now he’s training in Abu Dhabi. I’m going to be also following him during the last phase of his camp preparing for his next fight. I will also be really happy to see what’s next.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Volkan Oezdemir above.
