Magomed Ankalaev vs Volkan Oezdemir: Ankalaev KO/TKO

On October 30, UFC Fight Island in the UAE will host the UFC 267 tournament, which will feature many Russian fighters. Here is a prediction for the fight between Magomed Ankalaev and Volkan Oezdemir.

Magomed Ankalaev is the strongest Russian fighter in the light heavyweight division and is now on a streak of six straight wins, four of them early.

In his previous fight, Ankalaev won by decision over another top fighter in the division, Nikita Krylov. The first round was a stand-up fight and a slight advantage for Krylov. At the beginning of the second round, Krylov was also quite successful in a standing position, but in the middle of it, Ankalaev took a take-down and attacked Nikita with overhead punches on the ground. In the third round, the advantage was clearly for Magomed, who held the take-downs and controlled his opponent in the parterre and in the clinch. In the end, all the judges gave the victory to Ankalaev with a score of 29-28 three times.

The Russian fighter views the fight with Oezdemir as a stepping stone to the title. Here’s what he says about the opponent:

«I don't think he's the best puncher. I know he's got a lot of punching power, he can knock you out with one punch, but technically he's definitely not the best. He hits very hard, but I think he's too slow. His speed won't be enough to get me. I don't think that's going to be a problem.»

Magomed Ankalaev

Oezdemir is firmly in the top 10 of the UFC light heavyweight division and has only fought very tough guys in recent years. Yes, he has four losses in his last six fights, but just look at who he lost to: Daniel Cormier, Anthony Smith, Dominick Reyes, Jiri Prochazka. At the same time, he knocked out Ilir Latifi and beat Aleksandar Rakic. It is already quite clear that Volkan is unlikely to get to the title, but he can be ranked very high in terms of his capabilities and skills for some time.

In his last fight, Oezdemir lost to Jiri Prochazka by knockout, although he was chasing his opponent around the cage as hard as he could, leading on points, and was close to finishing the fight himself. Apparently, he just lost concentration for a second, missed a kick to the head, and was finished.

But he still believes in himself and plans to get back in the title race. All he has to do for that is to beat Ankalaev brightly:

«He is a patient fighter and he goes for the knockout. He likes to keep it too clean and technical all the time, so I’m going to bring it to him. There is nothing different here from what I want to do. I want to go in there and knock him out. But, I want to show everything I have been working on because there is a lot of stuff I have changed. I want to showcase some new things. I’m a guy who doesn’t talk much outside of fighting so I have to produce it when I’m in there. I just have to go in there and showcase my skills, get a big knockout and let that do all the talking.»

Volkan Oezdemir

«He has a heavy knockout punch. It's going to be a very interesting fight. I can't really see him having anything other than that punch.»

Magomed Ankalaev

The fight promises to be interesting because both fighters prefer to fight in the standup, only Ankalaev takes the technique and gameplan, and Oezdemir just cuts with power. All in all, going into exchanges with him is not a good plan for the Russian.

Magomed is not lying when he says he can avoid his opponent's lethal blows due to his speed. It's easy to believe that, it's just as easy to believe that he can finish the swung opponent himself. 1xbet offers odds of 2.00 on Ankalaev's victory by KO, TKO, or DQ and that's very good.