Volkan Oezdemir and Ilir Latifi will not be sharing the Octagon at UFC Newark.
ESPN’s Brett Okamoto reported that Oezdemir vs. Latifi has been moved to UFC Uruguay. That event is scheduled for Aug. 10 and it’ll be headlined by a women’s flyweight title bout between champion Valentina Shevchenko and Liz Carmouche. The change is said to be due to visa issues. UFC officials later confirmed the move.
Oezdemir vs. Latifi was supposed to take place at UFC Stockholm last month. Latifi suffered a back injury, so the bout was scrapped.
It’s a crucial bout for both men. Oezdemir hasn’t won a bout since July 2017. He’ll be looking to avoid his fourth straight defeat. As for Latifi, he’s hoping to rebound from his unanimous decision loss to Corey Anderson back in December. The loss followed by inactivity saw Latifi slide down from the fifth spot to the ninth position on the UFC light heavyweight rankings.
UFC Uruguay will be held inside the Antel Arena in Montevideo, Uruguay. In addition to the main event and Oezdemir vs. Latifi, welterweights Vicente Luque and Mike Perry will collide. Undefeated featherweight prospect Rodolfo Vieira will go one-on-one with Humberto Bandenay.
Also featured on the main card will be heavyweight action between Ciryl Gane and Raphael Pessoa Nunes. UFC Uruguay will also see a featherweight clash between Enrique Barloza and Bobby Moffett.
