Light Heavyweights
#10 LHW | Carlos Ulberg (10-1, 6-1 UFC) vs. #8 LHW | Volkan Oezdemir (20-7, 8-6 UFC)A sneakily important light heavyweight bout serves as one of the highlights of this card. Ulberg was one of the most impressive contract winners on the 2020 edition of Dana White’s Contender Series. “Black Jag” had dabbled in different sports, combat and otherwise, over the years and combined marketable looks and charisma with an entertaining knockout-heavy style. However, the hype that Ulberg developed with his contract-winning performance dissipated just as quickly after his UFC debut, as he poured out his gas tank attempting—and failing—to knock out Kennedy Nzechukwu, then crumbled upon his opponent’s comeback. Ulberg took nearly a year to regroup, and an overly cautious—and generally unwatchable—decision win over Fabio Cherant raised the worry that his game would be permanently broken going forward. He has looked excellent in the two and a half years since, racking up five straight wins. Four of those have come through first-round knockouts against opponents too aggressive to avoid a huge counter, but Ulberg also impressed in a three-round win over Da Woon Jung, putting in consistent work before finding a surprising submission in the closing moments of the match. Ulberg has checked almost every box since regrouping from the loss to Nzechukwu, but there’s still the question of how he will handle three rounds of consistent pressure and adversity and if those old mental hangups remain. That’s where Oezdemir potentially comes in.
In terms of one-year breakouts, it’s hard to beat Oezdemir’s 2017 campaign. “No Time” started the year as a regional heavyweight and ended it as the UFC’s top light heavyweight contender thanks to upsets of Ovince St. Preux, Misha Cirkunov and Jimi Manuwa, the last two of which came via sub-minute knockout. Oezdemir would prove unsuccessful in his title shot against Daniel Cormier, which led to a rough patch where he had to adjust his approach. He has had a consistent pressure game the entire time through, but it has taken a while for Oezdemir to turn from frontrunner to stalwart and fight through adversity against harder-hitting opponents. He took apart knockout artist Bogdan Guskov to cap off 2023, and for all of Johnny Walker’s flaws, Oezdemir’s win over the Brazilian in June was a strong proof of concept for his improvements; Walker is nothing if not giant and intimidating, and Oezdemir had little trouble picking his spots, balancing his aggression and knocking out the SBG Ireland rep in about two and a half minutes. This could still wind up as an Ulberg win given his technical craft and finishing ability, but Oezdemir’s performance against Walker is enough to give the Swiss fighter the benefit of the doubt. He should be able to walk the line of being aggressive and thoughtful, likely eating some damage but always forcing Ulberg to keep fighting and reacting. Ulberg has yet to prove he can do that for 15 minutes, particularly with the thought of the Nzechukwu fight still lingering. Ulberg could certainly prove that he has found comfort as a fighter rather than papering over his previous issues, but the pick is Oezdemir via third-round stoppage.
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Yan vs. Figueiredo
Yan vs. Ricci
Salikhov vs. Song
Wang vs. Fernandes
Ulberg vs. Oezdemir
Zhang vs. Diaz
The Prelims