UFC Paris: Who is Bogdan Guskov?
The UFC travels back to Europe for the third time this year but this time they stop in Paris, France for its second consecutive year.
UFC Paris is headlined by former interim heavyweight champion and countryman, Ciryl Gane, who will clash against Sergey Spivac for the top spot in the division. There will be several new fighters making their first appearance on Saturday, but a name to look out for is the newcomer Bogdan Guskov (14-2) who will challenge the UFC veteran, Volkan Oezdemir (18-7), for his first UFC win.
Guskov comes off a first-round TKO in 25 seconds in March when he defeated Carlos Eduardo in MMA Series 64. He is currently on a four-fight win and finish streak that all have been within the first round. As one of the most highly touted light heavyweight prospects in Central Asia and Russia, Guskov deservingly is making the walk to the Octagon, and when he does he will be entering it with a 100 percent finishing rate when he wins.
In 16 fights, Guskov has conquered 14 men via finish and has fallen short twice via a TKO and a decision. In his career, he has only been to the third round once and it was when he successfully TKO'd his opponent via knee and punches in 2019. Guskov is a fighter who lives by the sword or ultimately dies by it, and was faced with that reality when he was finished via punches in 2020.
Bogdan Guskov will face Volkan Oezdemir in his UFC debut
The No. 9 ranked light heavyweight, Oezdemir, welcomes the debut of Guskov with 12 fights under the UFC banner that includes six wins and three finishes. He is currently on a one-fight losing streak after losing by unanimous decision against Nikita Krylov last year. In the UFC, Oezdemir has faced some phenomenal fighters like Daniel Cormier, Jiří Procházka, and Magomed Ankalaev, but due to facing such talent, he has also been finished three times.
Oezdemir has defeated the likes of Aleksandar Rakić, Paul Craig, and Ilir Latifi, so facing a newcomer shouldn't be his toughest challenge, but anything can happen when the Octagon is locked. Both fighters are predominantly strikers so this matchup will be a story of who lands and gets hurt first.
According to DraftKings, Oezdemir is a contested favorite at (-185) but the betting lines continue to increase in favor of him, meanwhile, Guskov is the underdog here at (+154).
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