What was Ilir Latifi thinking?
Let’s get this out of the way from the top: We like [autotag]Ilir Latifi[/autotag]. Really, anyone who follows this sport should. Remember when he stepped up on short notice and fought Gegard Mousasi in a main event for his UFC debut?
Latifi (14-7 MMA, 7-5 UFC) always has carried himself with that type of spirit, win or lose, and he rarely has a bad word to say about anyone, either. This sport could use a lot more people like the affable Swede.
Which makes this fight he’s gotten himself into all the more painful to contemplate.
Latifi wasn’t exactly one of the biggest light heavyweights out there, but he deiced it’s time to make the move up to heavyweight. An interesting move in and of itself.
But then you heard he’s making his heavyweight debut against Derrick Lewis. Yes, that Lewis 22-7 MMA, 13-5 UFC). “The Black Beast.” The guy capable of taking inhumane amounts of punishment, then unleashing his hands of stone and delivering a fight-saving knockout out of nowhere.
Oh, and this is in Lewis’ hometown, too.
We’d like to look at the upside of this fight for Latifi, but we’re just not finding one.
[opinary poll=”how-will-derrick-lewis-vs-ilir-latifi-en” customer=”mmajunkie”]