Carlos Ulberg thinks his chance to challenge UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira could come sooner than expected.
Ulberg (10-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) takes on former title challenger Volkan Oezdemir (20-7 MMA, 8-6 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 248 Nov. 23 from Galaxy Arena in Macau, China.
Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) is fresh off his third light heavyweight title defense – a brutal fourth-round finish of Khalil Rountree in the UFC 307 headliner. A former kickboxer himself, Ulberg wasn’t surprised to see Rountree pose problems for Pereira.
“I had my money on Rountree,” Ulberg told Sky Sport New Zealand. “I thought Rountree would do well, given he’s quite explosive and it’ll give a different look to Alex Pereira. But as the rounds went on, I think Pereira came back and he stuck to his game plan, which was to tire him out and make use of the explosive power Rountree was using and over-using.”
Watching No. 8 ranked Rountree get a title shot, Ulberg won’t rule out the possibility of getting his chance with a win over Oezdemir.
“I’ve been studying Alex for a while now. He’s at the top and he’s the prime right now,” Ulberg said. “He’s definitely someone that everyone’s keeping an eye on, so knowing that he’s got a high fight IQ, it is always good to sit back and see how he operates in the octagon.
“I’m coming up, and soon I’ll get my chance. … Once I get through Oezdemir, which is going to be a hard task for sure, it’s free rein from there and it’ll give me the opportunity to go for the light heavyweight title. As you’ve seen the No. 8 who’s just fought for the light heavyweight title, at any given time we’re going to be called up for that.”
Ulberg has some adversity to deal with before stepping into the cage against Oezdemir. The City Kickboxing standout revealed that he broke his toe six weeks’ out of his fight, but has no intentions of pulling out.
“I just broke my toe yesterday in sparring and didn’t realize that I’d broken it until doing my sit-ups and seeing it was facing the other way,” Ulberg said. “It’s just going through all that pain and struggle, and doing it all over again the next day. So, until then, it’s just doing what I need to do, what’s been working in my favor in the past, and just trying to keep to the same formula really.”
