UFC London Results: Volkan Oezdemir wins the subs of Paul Craig, but loses his fight.

Volkan Oezdemir shut down Paul Craigs’ submission attack and made the Scot pay for every attempt en route to a unanimous decision in the UFC London main card opener.

Oezdemir was ranked No. 15 in the MMAA Fighjting Global Rankings, snapped a two-fight skid with scores of 30-27 for superior damage done on the feet and in half-guard, where he repeatedly found himself as Craig crashed into his legs.

Craig tried mightily to secure a leg in the early going of the fight. Oezdemir was able to escape with a blatant fence grab, while Oezdemir managed to stay upright with a lackluster performance on his subsequent takedowns. Craig was able to use his skills to pull and tie Oezdemir. The problem was, Oezdemir refused to play for any length of time on the ground, and when he did, he scored points on top.

Craig was forced to make a stand. Oezdemir struck slowly with Craig, landing occasional fancy spinning back-kicks, but then Craig back-flopped for an awkward ref standup.

The loss snapped a 5-0-1 streak for Craig, who’d previously pulled off two triangle chokes in the octagon before a London crowd, including a tap of Nikita Krylov in the promotion’s March trip to the city. After losses to Jiri Prochazka and Magomed Ankalaev, Oezdemir gets a much-needed win to resuscitate his career.