Today the UFC announced that a match-up between Swedish fighter Ilir “The Sledgehammer” Latifi (8 wins, 3 losses, #2 Ranked Nordic) and “Filthy” Tom Lawlor (9-5). The fight is being slated for the July 19th card in Dublin, Ireland. The bout will mark Tom Lawlor’s return to the Light Heavyweight division in a fight that is sure to mean fireworks between these two grappling powerhouses.
Latifi and Lawlor are both fresh off of submission wins, both having won their previous bouts by way of guillotine choke. Latifi made short work of Cyrille Diabate in his last bout, stopping him with a ruthless neck-cranking guillotine in the very first round. On the other hand, this will be the first bout for Filthy Tom Lawlor in over a year, as he has not fought since the UFC’s last foray into Sweden for UFC on Fuel TV: Mousasi vs. Latifi.
With this long layoff, there is sure to be a small amount of ring rust for the American, who started off slow in his last bout against Michael Kuiper, dropping the first round before rebounding with a come-from-behind submission win in the second.
Tickets for this event go on sale June 6th, and as always, MMAViking will be providing full event coverage for this card that will be co-headlined by Gunnar Nelson versus Ryan LaFlare.
