Light Heavyweights
Volkan Oezdemir (15-3) vs. Dominick Reyes (10-0)Advertisement
As Jon Jones of all people returns the light heavyweight division to normalcy by just choosing to step up and fight the next challenger available, it is a shame that those contenders lack promotional oomph. With Daniel Cormier off to heavyweight and Alexander Gustafsson already handily beaten, the landscape at 205 pounds has devolved into a strange mix of flawed failed prospects, wild action fighters and the occasional journeyman. However, there is an actual prospect among them. That distinction belongs to Reyes. A near-NFL prospect at Stony Brook University, Reyes eventually made his way to MMA and, as any reasonably athletic regional big man will do, started annihilating overmatched competition, scoring five first-round finishes in his six pre-UFC bouts. Once Reyes hit the big time, that streak continued, as he kept putting away a slightly better level of competition each time out without much trouble. That eventually landed him a shot at Ovince St. Preux in October, and in a fight that actually went to the scorecards, Reyes showed he could keep a pace and his composure over the course of 15 minutes. There are still questions to be answered about Reyes, as it would be nice to see him take apart someone more technically sound than St. Preux, but again, looking over the light heavyweight division, there is not the perfect type of gatekeeper who can test Reyes’ flaws before he gets thrown into the championship mix. Might Oezdemir be close enough? Perhaps.
It is still unclear what to make of Oezdemir’s five-fight UFC career, which featured one of the unlikeliest rises to a title shot in the promotion’s history and now seems primed for a freefall. At the start of 2017, Oezdemir was a regional heavyweight, and by the end of the year, he was suddenly in the catbird seat as the UFC’s top light heavyweight contender. His debut against St. Preux was a bit of a mess, as Oezdemir plodded into the clinch with offense while OSP did not do much of anything. Still, a controversial decision win suddenly made Oezdemir a ranked contender and also made him a bit of a punchline, as most figured he would be exposed in his next big fight. Only, that did not happen. Instead, Oezdemir took advantage of the lax defenses of Misha Cirkunov and Jimi Manuwa and obliterated them in under a minute combined. For as great as 2017 was for Oezdemir, 2018 undid a lot of that success. He was unsurprisingly outclassed by Daniel Cormier in a failed bid for the title, then lost in a main event assignment against Anthony Smith. Oezdemir won the early stages of that fight, again by mostly plodding forward into the clinch, but eventually wore himself out, at which point Smith managed to take over and expose a disturbing lack of grappling defense from the Swiss standout. At any rate, Oezdemir has now fallen back to the pack, so going forward, it is a matter of making sure he at least hangs around as a gatekeeper instead of becoming a bizarre footnote.
Again, Oezdemir is about as good of a gatekeeper that the light heavyweight division can offer at the moment, but Reyes has proven enough that he should be able to take this handily. Oezdemir might be Reyes’ best opponent as far being able to bull into the clinch and hold him against the cage, but “The Devastator” looked solid in that phase of the game against St. Preux, so that should not be an overwhelming concern. Plus, Reyes is the more dynamic striker and the more dangerous fighter on the ground, and he seems to stay mentally aware in the fight at all times -- something which cost Manuwa when he took his eye off the ball against Oezdemir. Basically, Reyes has every skill necessary to wear out Oezdemir, so it is just a matter of whether this sees the scorecards or winds up in a late finish. The pick is Reyes via third-round submission.
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