The UFC Light Heavyweight division is in a confusing place due to the Jon Jones' drug test failure, but Ilir Latifi made his presence felt at UFC 215.
The Swedish born Latifi defeated highly touted prospect Tyson Pedro at the event, dragging the youngster into deep waters for a unanimous decision victory. It was the first time that Pedro had ever had a fight go out of the first round. You can see an excerpt of David Tees' live coverage below.
Latifi has now won four of his last five fights, including victories over top-15 fighters Pedro and Gian Villante. Latifi perhaps infamously was given a shot by the UFC to replace his teammate Alexander Gustafsson against Gegard Mousasi in the main event of a UFC on Fuel TV card in April 2013.
Round Three: The round begins with Pedro attacking Latifi with some leg kicks, Latifi tries attacking Pedro with punching combinations. Latifi pops an incoming Pedro with a few rights, Pedro responds by backing up Latifi with a right of his own. Pedro then catches Latifi with a two punch combination, Latifi cracks a kicking Pedro with a counter right hook. Latifi scores a takedown on Pedro and he gets the open guard, Latifi transitions to the half guard against Pedro. Pedro traps Latifi in his open guard while eating more strikes, Latifi attacks Pedro with ground and pound as the round ends.
Fightful scores the round 10-9 for Latifi (Final Score: 30-27 for Latifi)
Official Result: #10 Ilir Latifi def. #13 Tyson Pedro by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
The number 10-ranked heavyweight in the UFC, Latifi could be moving up in the rankings after his victory, as well as with any impending disciplinary action against the aforementioned Jones.
Latifi was scheduled to fight Antonio Rogerio Nogueira earlier this year, but "Little Nog" was forced out of the fight.
You can see Fightful.com our UFC 215 post-show Podcast at this link.
