After finally getting over his injury woes, Ilir Latifi will now return to action against Alexandr Romanov at UFC Fight Night 202 in February.
Latifi was in a tough spot heading into his last fight, having lost three fights in a row against Corey Anderson, Volkan Oezdemir and then Derrick Lewis.
However, ‘The Sledgehammer’ managed to turn things around by claiming a split decision win over Tanner Boser in June. That victory came at a cost though as Latifi suffered a fractured arm and also an eye injury resulting from an eyepoke that left him unable to see out of it for several weeks.
As a result, Latifi had to take the rest of the year off to recover and now returns for another heavyweight bout against Romanov, who has so far compiled a perfect 15-0 career record, including four wins in the UFC so far.
His Octagon campaign began with a submission win over Roque Martine, followed by another submission finish against Marcos Rogerio de Lima, while a split decision win against Juan Espino and a TKO of Jared Vanderaa have pushed him closer to a spot on the heavyweight rankings.
Latifi vs. Romanov joins a UFC Fight Night 202 card that will also feature the likes of Kyle Daukaus vs. Julian Marquez and John Makdessi vs. Nasrat Haqparast, but does not yet have a confirmed headliner.
