Volkan Oezdemir felony battery trial pushed back to July 9

Volkan Oezdemir has a fight this month, but likely no longer one in the Octagon.

The UFC light heavyweight contender’s felony battery trial has been pushed back to July 9 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Oezdemir’s attorney Bruce Zimet told MMA Fighting. Oezdemir is being charged with felony battery with great bodily harm — a third-degree felony — for allegedly knocking out a man outside a bar last summer.

Zimet said he expects the trial to last only several days and likely not longer than a week.

On Monday, ESPN reported that Oezdemir had been moved from his scheduled UFC Hamburg main event July 22 against Mauricio Rua in Germany and is targeted to face Alexander Gustafssonat UFC 227 on Aug. 4 in Los Angeles.

Oezdemir, 28, is a Switzerland native currently living in South Florida. When he was arrested last November, he had to surrender his passport to the court, so currently he is unable to leave the country.

Initially, Oezdemir was set to face “Shogun” Rua at UFC Chile on May 19, but the fight had to be moved due to Oezdemir’s legal situation. Oezdemir’s trial was going to begin in May, but it got pushed back to June 18 and now again to July 9. Two months ago, UFC officials and Zimet were both confident that the process would be over by the end of May. But that obviously did not end up being the case.

Oezdemir (15-2) is coming off a second-round TKO loss to UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier at UFC 220 in January. Before that, he had stormed onto the UFC scene, winning three straight in five months last year. Oezdemir, who trains out of Combat Club in Lantana, Fla., finished both Jimi Manuwa and Misha Cirkunov by knockout in under a minute each.