Light heavyweight contender Misha Cirkunov is set to kick off his new UFC contract with a fight against Volkan Oezdemir.
One month ago, UFC president Dana White said that he was “done” negotiating with Canadian light heavyweight contender Misha Cirkunov, who was a free agent after he’d finished up his contract. At the beginning of March, White announced that Cirkunov had re-signed with the promotion. With that drama out of the way, UFC officials announced on Monday that Cirkunov will be facing Switzerland’s Volkan Oezdemir in the UFC Stockholm co-main event (per TSN) on Sunday, May 28th.
Cirkunov (13-2) is a perfect 4-0 inside the Octagon, with all of his wins coming by stoppage. His last outing ended in a sensational guillotine choke finish of Nikita Krylov at UFC 206. He also holds wins over Ion Cutelaba, Alex Nicholson, and Daniel Jolly. This will be his first fight outside of North America, and only his third one outside of Canada.
Oezdemir (13-1) made his Octagon debut on short notice back in February, when he faced top-10 ranked Ovince Saint Preux at UFC Houston. In an upset, Oezdemir pulled off the split decision victory, giving him his third consecutive win. As it stands, Oezdemir is ranked #8, while Cirkunov is #15, although that’s really misleading as he was #8 before he was temporarily yanked from the rankings.
UFC Stockholm is headlined by a five-round light heavyweight battle between former title challengers Alexander Gustafsson and Glover Teixeira. The main card airs live on Fox Sports 1.