No. 2 Volkan Oezdemir to fight Anthony Smith in Moncton UFC main event

Volkan (No Time) Oezdemir, ranked second among light-heavyweight contenders, will face No. 9 Anthony (Lionheart) Smith in the main event of the UFC show Oct. 27 in Moncton.

Oezdemir (15-2-0) is coming off a second-round TKO loss to light-heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier at UFC 220 in January. The 28-year-old Swiss, who trains out of Coconut Grove, Fla., had won his three previous UFC fights including a 28-second KO of Toronto’s Misha Cirkunov — one of his 12 first-round finishes.

Smith (30-13-0) is 6-3 in the UFC and has won five of his last six bouts. The 30-year-old Texan, who fights out of Omaha, is coming off first-round KO wins over former champions Mauricio (Shogun) Rua and Rashad Evans.

The televised Fight Night card at Moncton Events Centre, the UFC’s first show in Moncton, will also feature a heavyweight bout between Canadian Arjan Singh Bhullar (7-1-0) and Brazil’s Marcelo Golm (6-1-0).

Both fighters are 1-1 in the UFC. Bhullar, a 32-year-old from Vancouver, was submitted by Adam Wieczorek in April after winning a decision over Luis Henrique in his UFC debut last September at UFC 215. 

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Bhullar wrestled for Canada at the 2012 Olympics, finishing 13th in the 120-kilogram freestyle division. He won bronze at the 2007 Pan American Games and gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Golm lost a decision to Timothy Johnson last time out in the UFC. 

Moncton will mark the UFC’s 27th show in Canada and third in Atlantic Canada, following two in Halifax (October 2014 and February 2017).

Moncton becomes the 11th Canadian city to host a UFC card, joining Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, Saskatoon, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver.

It will the UFC’s second card in Canada this year, following the July 28 show at Calgary’s Scotiabank Saddledome. Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena is slated to host UFC 231 on Dec. 8.

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Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version had the incorrect date for UFC 231.