Daniel Cormier has been telling us since September that Volkan Oezdemir was going to get the next shot at his belt. He asked the fans on Twitter who he should fight next to defend his UFC light heavyweight title, resulting in Oezdemir beating out former challenger Alexander Gustafsson. At that point, it was just some Twitter results until the 15-1 Swede said we could expect a fight announcement from him soon. We still don’t have a date yet, but it looks like the fight is officially happening.

DC tells me he’s fighting Volkan Oezdemir next. No date yet but says we should hear soon #UFC

— José Youngs (@JoseYoungs) November 3, 2017

Before the whole Jon Jones controversy after Cormier’s loss at UFC 214, it looked like Jimi Manuwa would be next in line for a title shot. That was, until burgeoning star Volkan Oezdemir knocked him out on the same night. The heavy-handed contender has put together one of the best debut years most likely since Conor McGregor. In just this calendar year, he entered into the UFC, rocketed up to the second-ranked UFC light heavyweight in the world, and will be fighting for a title.

Unbeaten as a top five heavyweight, Daniel Cormier has only lost to one man at light heavyweight. We all know that’s arguably the greatest of all time, Jon Jones. It’s hard to not think that he wouldn’t be going into this fight the favorite. Having dispatched of Anthony Johnson twice, what was perceived as the hardest hitting fighter in the division, Cormier also has experience dealing with the sort of threat Oezdemir brings. It’ll be up to Volkan Oezdemir to prove just how great he really is in the biggest fight of his life. We’ll keep our ears to the ground for the big announcement, although it’s a safe bet it is dropped on the air during UFC 217.

Nothing can stop me 🌋 #onmywaytobethegoat #Notime #UFC #staytuned pic.twitter.com/WYWMY30kAv

— Volkan Oezdemir (@volkan_oezdemir) October 25, 2017

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 11/3/2017