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Ovince Saint Preux has a new opponent for next month’s UFC Fight Night 104 event.
UFC officials recently announced Jan Blachowicz (19-6 MMA, 2-3 UFC) suffered an injury and has been forced out of his bout with light heavyweight Saint Preux (19-9 MMA, 7-4 UFC). Volkan Oezdemir (12-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC), a former Bellator fighter and now the UFC’s first Switzerland native, has stepped in as a replacement.
UFC Fight Night 104 takes place Feb. 4 at Toyota Center in Houston. The card airs on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass, though the bout order hasn’t been finalized.
Saint Preux, who’s No. 9 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA light-heavyweight rankings, has lost two straight and three of his past four. Prior to a recent knockout loss to Jimi Manuwa, the 33-year-old came up short against Jon Jones via unanimous decision in a bout for an interim title.
He now meets Oezdemir, a 27-year-old who turned pro in 2010. He owns nine knockouts and one submission in 12 carer wins. His lone loss came during a two-fight stint with Bellator, where he scored a TKO victory over Josh Lanier before a submission defeat to Kelly Anundson. In April 2016, he returned from a two-year layoff for a decision victory over Alihan Vahaev (4-2) at an event in Russia.
The latest UFC Fight Night 104 lineup now includes:
- Dennis Bermudez vs. Chan Sung Jung
- Alexa Grasso vs. Felice Herrig
- Volkan Oezdemir vs. Ovince Saint Preux
- Abel Trujillo vs. James Vick
- Justin Ledet vs. Dmitriy Sosnovskiy
- Curtis Blaydes vs. Adam Milstead
- Chris Gruetzemacher vs. Chas Skelly
- Daniel Jolly vs. Khalil Rountree
- Alex Morono vs. TBA
- Bec Rawlings vs. Tecia Torres
- Ricardo Lucas Ramos vs. Michinori Tanaka
- Jessica Andrade vs. Angela Hill
For more on UFC Fight Night 104, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
