Anthony Smith will face Volkan Oezdemir on an October 27th UFC Fight Night card. The tickets for the event go on sale September 14th for the light heavyweight bout. After a TKO of Shogun Rua in round one in his last outing, Smith immediately jumped on the chance to call out Alexander Gustafsson who shortly after claimed he was injured.
Volkan Oezdemir will be facing a fighter who just beat two former light heavyweight champions in Rashad Evans and Rua. Volkan is coming off of a loss to light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier so the outcome of this bout is not likely to get him a rematch. Smith on the other hand could very well get his shot at the belt because Oezdemir sits at #2 in the official UFC rankings. Given Smith’s look and hard hitting style he is very marketable and Dana White loves marketable so a title shot really is likely with a win.
If Daniel Cormier does vacate the 205 belt now that he’s also the heavyweight champ that would mean this fight, unlikely as it is, could be a vacant title bout if Dana gets a bug in his behind for the idea.