Ilir Latifi News

Cole Shelton - February 4, 2020

Ilir Latifi always wanted to fight Derrick Lewis and now he has gotten his wish. On the main card of UFC 247, Latifi will move up in weight to battle Lewis.

Cole Shelton - January 29, 2020

Ilir Latifi expects Alexander Gustafsson to fight again soon. Shortly after Gustafsson was submitted by Anthony Smith in the main event of UFC Stockholm he announced his retirement. Yet many thought the Swede would come back and a few months later he revealed he is considering a return.

Tom Taylor - November 18, 2019

Long-time UFC light heavyweight contender Ilir Latifi is reportedly headed up to the heavyweight division. According to ESPN, the Swede will hike up to heavyweight to battle fearsome knockout artist Derrick Lewis on February 8 — though contracts are not yet signed.

Tom Taylor - August 9, 2019

Ilir Latifi currently has his hands full with a Saturday night, UFC Uruguay showdown with Volkan Oezdemir. Yet he’s already thinking ahead to his next fight — and he’s got some big ideas. Speaking to MMA Fighting ahead of UFC Uruguay, the light heavyweight contender shared his interest in a heavyweight showdown with former title challenger Derrick Lewis.

Tom Taylor - May 31, 2019

Volkan Oezdemir expected to return the Octagon at UFC Stockholm this weekend opposite his friend Ilir Latifi. Unfortunately, Latifi was forced off the card at the last minute, leaving Switzerland’s Oezdemir without a dance partner. “Due to a back injury, Ilir Latifi has been forced to withdraw from his Saturday UFC Fight Night bout against Volkan Oezdemir,” the UFC announced in a statement. 

Drake Riggs - May 30, 2019

On Saturday night, UFC Stockholm takes place as it is scheduled to showcase six of the top light heavyweights in the promotion in its final three bouts. Well, at least that was originally the case as Ilir Latifi is no longer going to be able to make the walk. The UFC released a statement Thursday that Sweden’s Latifi was forced out of his bout with Volkan Oezdemir due to injury.

Drake Riggs - March 25, 2019

The UFC returns to Stockholm, Sweden on June 1 and the card is starting to really look like a light heavyweight showcase as some big-time match-ups have been made. The first of the bouts that were announced was the main event which features Sweden’s favorite fighting son, three-time title challenger, Alexander “The Mauler” Gustafsson. As he looks to rebound off of his recent loss to current champion, Jon Jones, so will his opponent, Anthony “Lionheart” Smith.

Tom Taylor - December 29, 2018

On Saturday night, on the main card of the relocated UFC 232 card in Los Angeles, California, Corey Anderson and Ilir Latifi collided in what was widely regarded as a number-one contender fight in the exciting UFC light heavyweight division. The winner, it was believed, would be well positioned for a fight with the winner of Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson’s UFC 232 main event title fight. The first round of this fight was admittedly a bit slow. Latifi seemed to land the hard shots, including a few nasty calf kicks, but Anderson had some success with his jab and his kicks.

Drake Riggs - August 27, 2018

Kicking things off when it comes to announcements for 2018’s final card was the big super fight between champions Cris Cyborg and Amanda Nunes. The second of surely multiple top-ranked matchups has now been brought to our attention. In a division that is desperate for some waves to be made, light heavyweight needs someone to make some noise.

Tom Taylor - August 19, 2018

Excitement surrounding the potential return of former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is starting to mount. The MMA legend continues to hint at a comeback, and some members of the MMA community believe his next bout is already in the works.  Whatever the case, Swedish light heavyweight contender Ilir Latifi is hoping to be the man to welcoming Jon Jones back to the cage. The hulking contender called for a fight with Jones on Twitter — while simultaneously questioning the legitimacy of Daniel Cormier’s reign as light heavyweight champ.

Tom Taylor - July 26, 2018

Daniel Cormier, who now owns the UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight titles, plans to retire in March of 2019, when he turns 40. From the sounds of it, he’s going to be very busy between now and then. We know that Cormier plans to defend his heavyweight title against Brock Lesnar in early 2019. We also know that Cormier is willing to defend his light heavyweight title against Corey Anderson in the meantime, as Cormier accepted the rising contender’s callout on Twitter yesterday. 

Drake Riggs - July 5, 2018

The UFC’s next event in Europe continues to lose out on it’s top showcases. After Volkan Oezdemir’s bailing to fight Alexander Gustafsson, another loss has come for UFC Hamburg. It just gets worse and worse for the UFC’s return to Germany as although they are retaining their headliner with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua now taking on the replacement in Anthony Smith, a replacement will quickly need to be found for the co-main event too.

Justin Golightly - March 3, 2018

Even beasts have dreams. For ‘The Brick Layer’ Ilir Latifi, his aspirations go beyond just smashing his opponents. He’s just coming off a spectacular finish over Ovince Saint Preux, strategically calling out UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier afterwards. Finally climbing to the top five of the ranks, Latifi is closer to that gold belt than ever before. After he gets the strap though, he wants to put on a safari hat and become the new Steve Irwin. “I love being out n nature. I’m very interested in everything with nature and animals and stuff and wildlife. I just love taking a ride on a horse on the beach, you know? I never thought there was going to be such a hype about that photo. I don’t know, I think it’s just like such a natural photo. Just a little bit raw, like some kind of ancient time. I don’t know what, but it’s a cool photo, I can admit it. [The elephant photo] was in Thailand at an elephant sanctuary that helps elephants that’s been abused and they take care of them. I got the opportunity to meet some amazing animals. Elephants are very intelligent.”

Justin Golightly - March 1, 2018

As Daniel Cormier heads up to heavyweight in one of the blast few big fights before he walks away from the sport, he’s not the only one changing weight classes. His teammate Luke Rockhold has announced his move to light heavyweight is ‘imminent’ and Alexander Gustafsson has offered to welcome him to the new division. Although, with a logjam of top Swedish talent at the top, it may be Gustafsson who leaves his division soon as well. “It’s a bit of a tricky situation. [Illir Latifi and Jimi Manuwa] are teammates, we are friends — close friends — first and foremost and we won’t fight each other. I want to start our discussion by making it clear that we will not fight each other, so now you all know. It’s a tricky situation, for sure. But I mean, we’ll see what happens. [Daniel Cormier] is now going up to face Stipe [Miocic], Ilir Latifi has heavyweight as a possibility. We’ll sort it out somehow. Of course we both should be able to dream of the belt and we both should get our chances to fight for the title, but we’ll see how it all turns out when we get there.”

Tom Taylor - February 27, 2018

In the wake of last weekend’s action-packed UFC Orlando card, the UFC has updated its official rankings. As expected, featherweight knockout artist Jeremy Stephens has made a big climb up the featherweight ladder for his crushing knockout of Josh Emmett, while light heavyweight contender Ilir Latifi burst into his divisional top-5 for his submission of Ovince Saint Preux. Here are the latest rankings (via MMAMania).

Tom Taylor - February 25, 2018

On Sunday night, on the main card of the UFC’s exciting stop in sunny Orlando, Florida, Sweden’s Ilir Latifi stepped into the Octagon with Ovince Saint Preux. Though Latifi entered this bout as a slight Octagon, he came through in the biggest way possible, dropping his opponent with two rocket-fuelled punches before lulling him to sleep with perhaps the most frightening standing guillotine we’ve seen since Jon Jones sent Lyoto Machida to the shadow realm in 2011. https://www.instagram.com/p/BfnJ8pHliqT/

Drake Riggs - January 18, 2018

Well instead of a replacement, it looks like Ovince Saint Preux won’t be changing opponents after all but instead just fight dates. He and fellow top-ranked UFC light heavyweight, Ilir Latifi were initially supposed to square off at UFC on Fox 27, January 27. That was until Latifi suffered an injury which led to OSP to going on the search for a replacement. . @Latifimma is hurt & out of our scrap next Sat in Charlotte, NC #UFConFOX27 who wants to step up and scrap? I’m even open to going up in weight if NO guys in my division will step up? Looking for someone to do what I do: step up and fight… pic.twitter.com/lvznRvE22I

Drake Riggs - January 16, 2018

After suffering a three-fight rough patch in 2016 to early 2017, Ovince Saint Preux has turned things around rather impressively and completely reversed that trend with three straight dominant wins. With all the momentum one could ask for, OSP was all well and ready to carry it over into the new year. OSP is set to take on Ilir Latifi at UFC on Fox 27 this month and…well…according to Saint Preux, Latifi has sustained an injury, therefore, putting him on the search for a new opponent. . @Latifimma is hurt & out of our scrap next Sat in Charlotte, NC #UFConFOX27 who wants to step up and scrap? I’m even open to going up in weight if NO guys in my division will step up? Looking for someone to do what I do: step up and fight… pic.twitter.com/lvznRvE22I