EXCLUSIVE | Lorenz Larkin to the UFC: “Feed ‘The Monsoon’! I’m Starving in These Riverside Streets!”

After a hot-and-cold run as a middleweight, Lorenz “The Monsoon” Larkin completely revivified his career with a drop to the UFC’s welterweight division.

This drop to welterweight began with a blistering, first-round TKO of a game John Howard. His sophomore effort in the division, meanwhile, saw him take out Santiago Ponzinibbio with second-round punches. And though he experienced his lone welterweight hiccup in his next bout thereafter, giving up a razor-close split decision to Albert Tumenov, he has since rebounded from that loss with a decision victory over Jorge Masvidal and, most impressively of all, a first-round savaging of the highly regarded Neil Magny.

This incredible defeat of Magny, however, marked the last fight on Larkin’s current UFC contract. Because he has yet to sign a new deal with the organization, that means that he is currently a free agent.

In a recent exclusive interview with BJPenn.com’s Rapid Fire, Larkin gave an update on his current situation. At the moment, he says he’s not sure where he’ll end up, as the UFC has not made any contact with him.

“Oh man. I just sent out applications, man.” Larkin said with a laugh. “No man, I don’t have a job yet. I’m jobless. I’m struggling out in these streets.”

“Nothing [from the UFC] yet,” he continued. “Maybe I’m the black sheep, I don’t know. I knew going into this I was rolling the dice, because before the Magny fight, usually the UFC resigns you after your third fight. They rarely let you go to the fourth fight [on your contract]. So we didn’t see eye-to-eye in the renegotiations after my third fight. So they decided to let me fight out my contract, you know. So I knew I was rolling the dice but I took the chance, and what can I say, I’m a gambler man.” 

“I am just patiently waiting.” 

Though Larkin is keen to re-sign with the UFC, he also explained that he’ll go where the money is – whether that’s in the UFC or another promotion. Though he doesn’t expect to make millions of dollars at this stage of career, he does want to be paid what he believes he’s worth.

“You know, it comes into every fighter’s head when the time is right that you deserve what you are worth,” he explained. “I want to see what I’m worth to the promotions I have fought for and other promotions as well. I have 15 fights so far with Zuffa. The thing that I have been trying to get across is, like, I’m not out here saying I want millions and millions of dollars. Of course everybody wants millions of dollars. But my thing is I have fought my way up from two and two. 2,000 to show and 2,000 to win, you know what I mean. This is with Zuffa, my very first fight with the promotion in Strikeforce. So I have built my contract from two and two to where it is now. My last fight was like right under eighty. But it is just the span you know. I want to see what I am worth now.”

While Larkin is eager to see what other promotions are willing to offer him, he did offer up a message for Dana White, the head honcho of the UFC:

“I’m starving out in these Riverside streets, I’m pan-handling,” Larkin said with a laugh. “Feed The Monsoon, Dana!”

By bravely exploring free agency, Larkin joins the company of fighters like Benson Henderson, Rory MacDonald and Phil Davis, who ended up in Bellator, and Alistair Overeem, Aljamain Sterling, and Dustin Poirier, all of whom wound up back in the UFC.

Where do you think the talented welterweight will land? Sound off, PENN Nation!