Volkan Oezdemir confident his power will be too much for Bogdan Guskov at UFC Paris: “I want to get my hand raised while the guy is on the floor”

By Cole Shelton - August 29, 2023

Volkan Oezdemir will finally make the walk to the Octagon.

Volkan Oezdemir

Oezdemir last fought back in October when he dropped a decision to Nikita Krylov. It was with the first punch he landed the fight that Volkan broke his hand which hindered his performance. Following the fight, he needed to get surgery as he had been dealing with a nagging hand injury for a while.

“I wanted to fight sooner but after that fight, I had to take care of my hand as I broke my hand during the first exchange of the fight,” Oezdemir said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “So, it was a little bit of an ongoing issue with my hand. Once it broke another time, I really wanted to repair it. First I had to wait until the break was strong again so they could operate at the right spot, so that’s why it took longer for me to come back.”

Once Volkan Oezdemir was healthy, he was booked to face Azamat Murzakanov at UFC Paris. However, Murzakanov was forced out of the bout. Once that happened, the UFC told ‘No Time’ that there were no ranked opponents ready to fight him.

Instead, Oezdemir will face UFC newcomer Bogdan Guskov, which he knows is a double-edged sword.

“They said they didn’t have anyone in the top 15 for me to fight, so if I really wanted to fight on this date, they would sign a new guy… I was disappointed but it’s also a double-edged sword, it can be a gift or a trap,” Oezdemir said. “You never know what that guy is capable of. I’ve been there as a guy fighting a top-10 guy and they are hungry to showcase what they are made of.”

With Bogdan Guskov making his debut at UFC Paris, Volkan Oezdemir expects him to come out guns blazing and looking for an early stoppage win. However, Oezdemir is confident his experience and power will be too much which will lead to the KO victory.

“I want to get my hand raised while the guy is on the floor. This will be very huge for me in Paris, it will be my crowd and my people. I’m looking forward to doing that,” Oezdemir said.

Should Volkan Oezdemir get his hand raised, he isn’t sure what a win does for him. But he knows he needs to string together a few wins in order to get another crack at the belt.

“The division is a shitshow, it’s really crazy. We need to see what is next for the title fight, maybe they plan Jiri and Pereira,” Oezdemir said. “I need two or three wins in a row now. I need to be consistent with my victories, I’m two to three wins away from a title shot.”