Volkan Oezdemir vs. Ilir Latifi Shifts From UFC Newark to UFC Uruguay

Per multiple sources, UFC light heavyweight bout between Volkan Oezdemir and Ilir Latifi is moving from Aug. 3 in Newark to Aug. 10 in Uruguay.

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) July 18, 2019

A pivotal light heavyweight fight between Volkan Oezdemir and Ilir Latifi has been relocated from UFC on ESPN 5 on Aug. 3 to an event one week later.

According to ESPN on Thursday, the fight has been moved back a week to UFC Fight Night 156 on Aug. 10, reportedly due to visa issues. With the relocation, UFC on ESPN 5 is down to 11 fights while UFC Fight Night 156 is up to 14. Only three events in UFC history have ever contained 14 or more bouts -- UFC 2, UFC on Fox 29 and UFC Fight Night 137.

The two were originally set to fight at UFC Stockholm in June, but Latifi had to pull out of the fight days before due to a back injury.

Oezdemir (15-4) is currently on a three-fight losing streak including an unsuccessful title bid against Daniel Cormier along with defeats to Anthony Smith and Dominick Reyes. Before that, "No Time" started his UFC career off 3-0 with two quick knockout wins over Jimi Manuwa and Misha Cirkunov as well as a decision win over Ovince St. Preux.

Latifi (14-6, 1 NC) was also looking to get back into the win column after losing to Corey Anderson back in December. The unanimous decision verdict in favor of Anderson snapped Latifi's two-fight win streak.

UFC on ESPN 5 will take place on Aug. 3 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, and is headlined by Colby Covington vs. Robbie Lawler. UFC Fight Night 156, which will be on Aug. 10 at the Antel Arena in Montevideo, Uruguay, sees a main event title fight as flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko defends her title against Liz Carmouche.