Volkan Oezdemir (photo via UFC / YouTube)

By FCF Staff

Aleksander Rakic continues to climb the UFC’s light-heavyweight ranks, after winning all four of his October bouts to date. But, the man who will fight him next, Volkan Oezdemir, is questioning the level of competition Rakic’s defeated.

Oezdemir (16-4) has been booked to face Rakic (12-1) at UFC Busan, which will take place on December 21st at the Sajik Arena in South Korea. Recently Oezdemir spoke to MMA Junkie about the upcoming fight, and while doing so, “No Time” said this about Rakic:

“Rakic is a top guy, obviously. He’s also really having a lot of success in the UFC lately,” Oezdemir said. “But the thing, is he hasn’t fought a top 10 guy yet. The only guy close to the top 10 was Jimi Manuwa, but Manuwa was also on a losing streak with a lot of knockout losses – really bad ones. I think he hasn’t faced real competition, like really tough fights.

“He has good wins against people that are not ranked, so it’s also a nice win. But we always see the difference as soon as you hit the top 10 mark. Then you’re seeing a whole different monster.”

Oezdemir, meanwhile, is coming off a stoppage win over Ilira Latifi in August, which snapped his three fight losing streak.