Volkan Oezdemir put himself in contention for MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Month in June when he flattened Johnny Walker with a devastating finish less than three minutes into the opening round of their light heavyweight bout.

After having an extremely hot start to his UFC career that earned him a title shot against then-champ Daniel Cormier, it’s been an inconsistent road for Oezdemir (20-7 MMA, 8-6 UFC). He’s come up short in some high-profile spots, but now he has consecutive victories on his resume for the first time since 2019.

Does the knockout of Walker tell us much we didn’t already know about Oezdemir? Probably not. But if you were picking him to win this fight, you couldn’t really ask for a more efficient win than he delivered. Walker has given tougher fights to more highly-ranked opposition, so that’s a feather in Oezdemir’s cap.

The power of the Swede is always going to be an X-factor in his favor when he steps in that octagon. If he can string together a couple more of these types of performances against notable competition, he would be back in the title mix some seven years after his first attempt.

Robert Whittaker was determined and focused on victory despite unideal circumstances in the main event, and he channeled that into one of the most spectacular efforts of his storied UFC career.

Whittaker (26-7 MMA, 17-5 UFC) could’ve easily rejected his main event spot once Khamzat Chimaev fell out. Not only did he not blink when the fight fell through, but he instantly accepted Ikram Aliskerov as the replacement opponent and convinced himself it was a harder fight than originally scheduled.

Then Whittaker came out and ran through Aliskerov, who was filled with confidence that he was about to have his own career-changing moment. But now. The page will not be turned yet – at least not on Whittaker’s watch.

The former UFC champ now has back-to-back wins since his loss to now-champ Dricus Du Plessis nearly a year ago, and it’s against two respectable names in Aliskerov and Paulo Costa. He dubbed himself the “boogeyman” at 185 pounds after this, and while some might take issue with that claim, it’s nice to see Whittaker presenting the most confident version of himself.

Could Whittaker be on deck to challenge the winner of Du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 on Aug. 17? He could make a massive claim to that if he takes a fight on that card, especially against someone like Sean Strickland. We’ll see how it plays out, but it’s certainly interesting times in the middleweight division.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ABC 6.