![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Now comes arguably his toughest test yet.<\/p>\n
Ofli meets Reyes at UFC Fight Night in Baku, Azerbaijan, with the Colombian finisher arriving full of confidence after a spectacular first-round stoppage in his UFC debut earlier this year. <\/p>\n
For Ofli, however, the timing couldn\u2019t be better.<\/p>\n
The 33-year-old former national champ says everything is clicking inside the cage.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019m in the best stage of my career, where everything is coming together,\u201d he told Fox Sports Australia this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a father, so that\u2019s definitely changed a lot in my personal life and my fighting life. And this is my 21st fight, so it\u2019s all happening at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aussie UFC featherweight Kaan OfliSource: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
After dropping his first two UFC appearances, Ofli reignited his career by submitting veteran Ricardo Ramos before backing it up with a solid decision victory over Yi Zha at UFC 325 in Sydney.<\/p>\n
Now, with momentum behind him, the Aussie reckons another big performance could move him within spitting distance of the biggest featherweight names.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say the featherweight division is the most exciting and the most stacked,\u201d said Ofli.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the division is also opening up and I believe I\u2019m only two performances away from really cracking the top 10 rankings and making my way up\u2026 <\/p>\n
\u201cSo they\u2019re all on the hit list\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone can get it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, Australia\u2019s own Alex Volkanovski sits atop the division, with the Windang warrior once again establishing himself as the man to beat at 145 pounds.<\/p>\n
For Ofli, there is nobody he\u2019d rather follow.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve trained together maybe three, four times now,\u201d said Ofli.<\/p>\n
\u201cVolk is everyone\u2019s idol in Australia \u2013 including mine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve looked up to him and I respect him so much. Not only as a fighter, but as a father, as a role model for the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before Ofli can start thinking about climbing into title contention, however, he must first take out the fiery Reyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got that Colombian blood-boiling personality,\u201d said Ofli.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got a lot of finishes, he\u2019s experienced \u2013 I would say he\u2019s almost like a Colombian street brawler that\u2019s made it big.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe I\u2019ve fought higher calibre opponents, though. I respect him. Everyone is talented at this level.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Ofli has built his reputation as a slick submission artist, he believes the biggest recent improvements in his game has come on the feet. <\/p>\n
\u201cI brought in a great boxing coach from Queensland for a couple weeks to Melbourne for this camp,\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve done individual sports before \u2013 wrestling, jiu jitsu, and kickboxing, but I\u2019ve never actually done boxing as a sport in itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a head of some pretty big breakthroughs with understanding some fundamental things, you know, that I may have missed when I was younger.\u201d<\/p>\n
And if Reyes underestimates that side of his game, Ofli believes he\u2019ll pay the price.<\/p>\n
Asked how Sunday\u2019s fight will end, the Australian smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe Reyes is going to choose his fate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Wild fight stuns after controversial end | 02:48<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe I can finish him standing up or on the ground, and if they dont happen, I believe that it will be a dominant performance. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to choose his fate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kaan Ofli believes he\u2019s entering the prime of his career as the Aussie featherweight prepares to chase a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":["post-760879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}