UFC 251 Predictions

Jiri is getting a huge amount of hype coming into this fight by brutally finishing three MMA veterans in his last bouts as a champion in Rizin. He's now coming to the UFC to see if he can make it in the world's biggest MMA organization.

Jiri is a massive, lanky Light-heavyweight who has been using his natural gifts and power to finish 9 of his last 10 fights. His previous two fights saw him literally punch C.B. Dollaway airborne, and crumble Fabio Maldonado in under four minutes combined.

However, the UFC is a whole other kettle of fish and Volkan is an insanely difficult fight to be introduced to the banner under.

He arguably beat Dominick Reyes who just gave Jon Jones a run for his money, and was comfortably beating Anthony Smith before getting caught late in a rear-naked choke. He landed big shots against Cormier in his lone title fight too, until DC's wrestling was just too much for him to get out from under.

Since then he sent Ilir Latifi to the shadow realm before halting the rise of contender Aleksandar Rakic via Split Decision.

No matter what, this one shouldn't see the scorecards, with a combined 35 knockouts between the two fighters.

It might end up being the taller Jiri's coming out party, but he's been facing lesser competition and Oezdemir has proven himself worthy of his top ranking. It'll be a fight of the night candidate either way.

Prediction: Volkan Via KO.