5 Defining Moments: Ilir Latifi

Ilir Latifi wants to get a little more juice out of the squeeze as he likely nears the end of the road in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

“The Sledgehammer” will put his two-fight winning streak on the line when he faces Dana White’s Contender Series graduate Rodrigo Nascimento as part of the UFC Fight Night 223 undercard on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Latifi, who turns 40 in July, has compiled a 9-6 record across his 15 appearances inside the Octagon. He last competed at UFC Fight Night 211, where he took a unanimous decision from Alexey Oleynik in their three-round encounter on Oct. 1.

As Latifi approaches his heavyweight battle with Nascimento in Sin City, a look at five of the many moments that have come to define him:

1. A Taste of Superiority

Latifi captured the Superior Challenge light heavyweight title with a unanimous decision over Jorge Oliveira in the SC 8 main event on Oct. 6, 2012 at Malmo Arena in Malmo, Sweden. No scores were announced. Latifi countered an active kicking game from the Brazilian with some kicks off his own and a pestering jab, then turned to takedowns. He put Oliveira on the floor in each of the first two rounds and slowly but surely put his stamp on the bout. Latifi was at his best in Round 3. There, he buzzed Oliveira with a right cross and ducked into a takedown inside the first 20 seconds. Hammerfist-heavy ground-and-pound followed, along with asphyxiating top control, as Latifi flummoxed the Black House rep and kept him bottled up on the canvas for more than four minutes. Soon, the UFC came calling.

2. Unpleasant Dreams

A stout, accurate jab carried Gegard Mousasi to a lopsided unanimous decision over Latifi in their makeshift UFC on Fuel TV 9 headliner on April 6, 2013 at Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm. All three members of the cageside judiciary scored it 30-27. Latifi, a short-notice replacement for the injured Alexander Gustafsson, was no match for the speed and skill of “The Dreamcatcher.” One jab after another found its mark on the Swede’s face, and the damage the blows exacted became readily apparent. Kept at range, the broad-shouldered promotional newcomer failed to get Mousasi on the ground until the closing seconds of the fight, and by then, it was far too late to make a difference.

3. Body Snatched

Jan Blachowicz short-circuited Latifi with a nasty body kick and follow-up ground strikes in the first round of their UFC Fight Night 53 light heavyweight showcase on Oct. 4, 2014 at Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm. The end came 1:58 into Round 1. Blachowicz was surprisingly calm and clinical in his Octagon debut. The onetime KSW champion chipped away with leg kicks and stayed out of range of the Swedish “Sledgehammer.” A thudding kick to the liver had Latifi seeking escape routes. He found none. Seeing his opponent in distress, Blachowicz bullied Latifi to the mat, forced him into a defensive shell on all-fours and put him away with a volley of unanswered lefts.

4. Power of the Dark Side

“The Ultimate Fighter 8” winner Ryan Bader knocked out Latifi with a surgical knee strike in the second round of their UFC Fight Night 93 light heavyweight attraction on Sept. 3, 2016 at Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany. Having entered the Octagon on a three-fight winning streak, the unconscious Swede hit the deck 2:06 into Round 1. Bader withstood a knockdown in the first round, bottled up the Swede with kicks to the body and waited for an opening. He caught Latifi ducking in the second, sent his knee crashing into the Allstars Training Center export’s face and walked off with his hands raised. It was one of the more visually stunning finishes of 2016.

5. North of Miami Vice

Latifi choked Ovince St. Preux unconscious with a standing guillotine choke in the first round of their UFC on Fox 28 light heavyweight feature on Feb. 24, 2018 at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. The curtain was drawn 3:48 into Round 1. St. Preux never got in gear. After a tepid start, Latifi sent the former University of Tennessee linebacker tumbling backward with a booming left hook. He followed up with right hands as St. Preux returned to his feet, sat him back down with another left hook and then clamped down on the guillotine. By then, the result was a formality. St. Preux struggled briefly to free himself, tapped away from the view of the referee and then went limp.