Volkan Oezdemir has earned a total of three wins under the UFC banner and is considered a top contender to the UFC Light Heavyweight Title.
UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones was recently notified by USADA for a failed drug test and now Oezdemir says that the USADA offender has blown all of his opportunities.
“I thought about it, and I didn’t want to believe it,” Oezdemir said to Bloody Elbow. “I’m disappointed, first of all. He’s been the best in the division for a while — and one of the best pound-for-pound mixed martial artists, too. [Jones testing positive] is something that is hard to believe. And when you see that, you want to reconsider everything he did in the past. It’s pretty crazy, actually. I don’t know. He had so many opportunities, and he blew them off all the time. Stuff like that happened when he was supposed to fight ‘DC’ last year; he got caught with PEDs . You start thinking about if he was like that all his career or not. I know he’s a champion, and he came here and beat everybody else with talent. But of course, you start asking yourself that question.”
Oezdemir currently sits at #3 in the UFC rankings, with former champion Daniel Cormier and Alexander Gustafsson ranked ahead of him.
Speaking of Gustafsson and DC, the number three ranked fighter wouldn’t mind battling either of them next.
“I called out Gustafsson right after my fight, and he didn’t even respond. I started looking at Cormier as a possibility, because he’s still the No. 1 challenger in the division,” Oezdemir said. “The 205-pound division is kind of stuck; everybody has a fight in the top 10, or even the top 12, I guess. So right now, DC is a good option, and I think he can even do it with the belt on.”
The top ranked light heavyweight last competed at UFC 214, where he scored a stunning knockout victory over Jimi Manuwa.
