Aleksander Rakic (photo via YouTube)

By FCF Staff

Aleksander Rakic has a pivotal fight ahead of him with Volkan Oezdemir, and the rising light-heavyweight believes he has the heavy-handed fighter beat in several ways.

After winning all four of his UFC bouts to date, Rakic (12-1) has been booked to fight the former title challenge at UFC Busan, December 21st. While speaking with MMA Junkie recently, the 27-year-old Rakic had this to say about Oezdemir and his abilities.

“We all know Volkan is a very powerful guy; I would say he’s one of the most powerful guys in the light heavyweight division,” Rakic said. “But he’s not the fastest. So when I watch his fights, whenever he moves forward to launch an attack, I can see it in advance. You can see when he’s about to attack.

“I need to use my range, and my reach, to keep him at distance. For sure, Volkan is going to come forward, like he always does in all of his fights. But I am so ready for this. I have faced opponents like him who are always pushing forward, like Devin Clark and Francimar Barroso, but I shut them down, then I moved forward on them. Looking at our styles, and in every aspect of MMA, I know I have the better cards against Volkan. I have the better wrestling, I have the better grappling, my strength and conditioning – I know it’s all on my side. I just need to prove it on Dec. 21 and the ‘W’ is going to be on my record.”

The 30-year-old Oezdemir (16-4) is coming off a KO win over Ilir Latifi in August, after dropping three straight.

Rakic is currently ranked #10 in the UFC’s light-heavyweight division and Oezdemir is #8.