Swedish light heavyweight Ilir Latifi did not got his wish of a showdown with divisional champion, Daniel Cormier, and will instead face Corey Anderson at UFC 232 — the promotion’s end-of-year show in Las Vegas on Dec. 29.
The bout was officially announced on FS1 show UFC Tonight on Wednesday, following an initial report from Kimura.se.
Latifi (14-5-0) is coming off a win over former interim title challenger, Ovince St. Preux. He latched onto a standing guillotine choke after rocking the American with a right hand in the first round of their bout at UFC on FOX 28 in February. “OSP” was rendered unconscious by the chokehold.
The Swede went into the contest on the back of unanimous decision win over top-rated Australian light heavyweight Tyson Pedro. Latifi currently boasts a 7-3 record in the Octagon. He lost his short notice debut against Gegard Mousasi in the main event of UFC Stockholm back in 2013. Jan Blachowicz and Ryan Bader are the only other two fights who have defeated “The Sledgehammer” in the UFC.
Anderson (11-4-0) also rides a two-fight win streak going into the bout. His last win came against Glover Teixeira via decision at UFC Hamburg in May, which is arguably his biggest scalp to date. Ahead of his clash with Teixeira, he claimed a unanimous decision win over Patrick Cummins.
“Beastin’ 25/8” has amassed a record of 8-4 with the UFC. He suffered defeats in the Octagon against Gian Villante, Mauricio Rua, Jimi Manuwa and Ovince St. Preux.
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