UFC Fight Night: Moncton will take place Saturday, October 27, 2018, from the Moncton Events Centre in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. The main event of the evening will feature two of the UFC’s top-tier light heavyweights as Anthony “Lionheart” Smith takes on Volkan “No Time” Oezdemir. This matchup is extremely important as the winner appears to be in the driver’s seat as the top contender for the light heavyweight title after the presumed Alexander Gustafsson and Jon Jones bout.
So the question at hand is, “Who will win between Smith and Oezdemir?” Kyle Carroll of MyMMANews.com and I will do a point-counterpoint, which will be the third edition of our joint project with MyMMANews.com.
PCP: Anthony Smith vs. Volkan Oezdemir
No doubt, this will be a standup war regardless of how long the bout lasts. Oezdemir currently owns a 15-2 record with 12 of those victories by finish. Five of his career knockouts are UNDER one minute!
He also possesses recent victories over UFC light heavyweight standouts in Ovince St. Preux, Misha Cirkunov, and Jimi Manuwa. Though Oezdemir’s most recent outing was a loss, it was to arguably the best fighter in the world, the UFC heavyweight AND light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier.
Anthony Smith is currently 2-0 since his move full-time to the light heavyweight division. Though both of Smith’s victories are over legends in the sport (Rashad Evans and Mauricio Rua) both are past their prime with a combined age of 75.
Smith just turned 30 in July 2018. Also of note, seven of Smith’s 13 losses are by KO/TKO. This is something to keep an eye on as Oezdemir makes his living with the knockout.
Be sure to check out Kyle Carroll’s counterpoint here at MyMMANews.com. The first point-counterpoint can be seen here while the second part of the series can be read here.
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