The UFC’s first event in Chile now has a big light heavyweight fight attached to it.
UFC Chile now has a marquee fight on the card. The first UFC event in the country takes place on May 19th in the Movistar Arena in Santiago, and will play host to a light heavyweight battle between former 205-pound champion Mauricio Rua and the most recent light heavyweight title challenger, Volkan Oezdemir.
The UFC confirmed the fight a little while ago:
LHW contenders collide at #UFCChile@volkan_oezdemir battles @ShogunRua pic.twitter.com/goEuI2ZFKR
— UFC Canada (@UFC_CA) March 21, 2018
Rua (25-10, 9-8 UFC) has seen his ups and downs in his decade-long run in the UFC, but has been impressive lately with three wins in a row. The most recent victory came over Gian Villante via third-round TKO at an event in Fortaleza event in March.
Oezdemir (15-2, 3-1 UFC) earned a title shot by taking out three straight top-ten UFC light heavyweights, two under under a minute. Unfortunately, he was stopped by champion Daniel Cormier in the second round of their UFC 220 bout in January.
It is unclear at this point if Volkan vs. Shogun will serve as the main event of the night, but it’s looking that way at the moment. Oezdemir is currently ranked as the number two challenger at 205, while Shogun currently sits at number seven.