Volkan Oezdemir Charged With Felony After Allegedly Knocking Man Unconscious

Volkan Oezdemir

More information regarding Volkan Oezdemir’s arrest has surfaced.

The UFC prospect was arrested on Saturday as a result of a bar fight that took place on August 12th. South Florida Sun-Sentinel is reporting that he was in a fight with a man named Kevin Cohen, who sustained swelling and received cuts on his head from the fight.

The alleged incident went down at Capone in Fort Lauderdale and it was described by Oezdemir’s attorney, Bruce A. Zimet that it was a bar room altercation. He made it clear that his client was not the aggressor and was totally justified in his actions. The report did not state what prompted the fight.

As a result of this incident, he was arrested by Fort Lauderdale police and charged with aggravated battery causing serious bodily injury, which is a second-degree felony. The Broward County Sheriff’s Office set his bond at $10,000.

Cohen told police that he went outside after hearing a friend had been knocked unconscious following a verbal altercation with another man. Cohen told cops that he looked up and was hit in the face.

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Cohen would go on to state that he lost consciousness for about 14 minutes and was taken to the hospital. This is where he was treated for concussion symptoms and given multiple staples for lacerations. People outside the bar told Cohen that it was Oezdemir that hit him.

Oezdemir has been training in South Florida with Combat Club, and he made his UFC debut earlier this year when he decided to take a fight against Ovince Saint Preux at UFC Fight Night 104 in Houston on short-notice. As seen in the fight, upset the favored “OSP with a split decision.

Following that fight, he picked up a 28-second knockout win over Misha Cirkunov at UFC Fight Night 109 in Sweden then beat Jimi Manuwa with a bonus-winning knockout in just 42 seconds at UFC 214 in July. UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and Oezdemir were close to finalizing a title fight. The belief is that the title bout likely would have happened at the beginning of 2018, but Oezdemir’s status is obviously up in the air as of this writing.