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Bellator MMA’s Lorenz Larkin isn’t getting any younger, but possibly better

September 5, 2024

As UFC 202 got underway in Las Vegas, Lorenz Larkin sat in the recesses of T-Mobile Arena getting ready for his fight with fellow veteran welterweight Neil Magny, then turned to his coach with a revelation.

“I’m the old guy of the card now,” recalled Larkin, who was all of 29 on Aug. 20, 2016, before he dismantled Magny with an assortment of withering body and leg kicks and head-clattering elbows en route to a first-round TKO victory.

Eight years later, Larkin is still going and going well heading into Saturday’s co-main event against Levan Chokheli at Bellator Champions Series: San Diego at Pechanga Arena.

To be fair, the welterweight, who just turned 38 on Tuesday, was younger than illustrious fighters like Glover Teixeira, Nate Diaz and Donald Cerrone on that summer night in the desert. But the age factor snuck up on the Riverside native.

For that victory, his third in four fights, was his last time in the UFC Octagon. Larkin’s contract was about to expire and he had expected negotiations to begin before being thrown in against the seventh-ranked Magny, who had won three in a row and 10 of his last 11 going into that bout.

But Larkin said the UFC paused, wanting to see how the fight went before looking to re-sign him. And in Larkin’s world, respect is paramount.

So as the UFC hedged its bet, Larkin pushed all his chips into the middle and opted for free agency.

“I just think a lot of fighters, they want the name to be a UFC fighter so bad. They overlook a lot of the things that they’re really fighting for,” Larkin said. “You’re really fighting for money, man, or the belt. But you’re doing this as a living. You’re trying to make as much money as you can. You can’t all do this forever, and you’re trying to make as much money as you can in the smallest amount of time.”

Larkin ended up signing with Bellator MMA. His tenure began shakily in 2017 with two losses – via unanimous decision in a title shot against 170-pound champion Douglas Lima and via second-round KO against Paul Daley.

He has since corrected course, with only two marks against him in his past 10 fights.

In July 2022, an illegal elbow against undefeated Muhamed Berkhamov ended with the fight being ruled a no contest – an elbow Larkin has long disputed wasn’t heavy enough to render Berkhamov unable to continue. Larkin made a statement in their rematch seven months later at Bellator 290 at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, this time with a clean and short elbow to the temple in the opening round that dropped his opponent face first and handed him his first loss.

In his next fight, Larkin traveled to Saitama, Japan, to take on Andrey Koreshkov in July of last year. He dropped a split decision that didn’t sit right with him.

“My thing is, like, I respect wrestlers, but if you want to wrestle, wrestle the guy down and inflict damage. But if you’re just taking somebody down and just holding them and not trying to punch, then, you know, I don’t think you should be rewarded for that,” Larkin said.

“I think that if you take somebody down, I don’t expect you to finish them if you can’t finish them, but you have to do damage. You have to show that, you know, that you want to hurt the person. Don’t just hold me and … have your corner, you know, counting down your minutes and things like that.”

Larkin returned with an impressive first-round TKO victory over Alan Dominguez in June, setting up a quick return to the cage Saturday in San Diego, not far from his hometown of Riverside.

And in no surprise, Larkin (26-8, 1 NC) will be the older fighter, albeit one with significantly more time in the cage.

“I just see another young guy that’s hungry, that wants to make a name for himself. I’ve seen it before,” Larkin said of the 27-year-old Chokheli (13-2, 1 NC). “I always welcome young guys that want to grow their name off of me. That’s the reason why I fight, is to test myself against the best guys. If I can’t do that, why? Like, there is no drive for me to train hard and to love the sport the way that I do.”

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Count Larkin as another person who believes age is just a number. No one is getting any younger, but Larkin wonders if he might be the exception, not unlike the fictional titular character in a 2008 Brad Pitt movie.

“You know, it’s crazy. I think my body’s starting to look better, you know, than it was when I was younger,” Larkin said. “I’m starting to fill it out more, so I don’t know, man. Maybe I have that Benjamin Button going on.”

Bellator Champions Series: San Diego

Main event: lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov (18-0, 1 NC) vs. Alexander Shabliy (24-3)

Co-main event: Lorenz Larkin (26-8, 1 NC) vs. Levan Chokheli (13-2, 1 NC)

When: Saturday, 5 p.m.

Where: Pechanga Arena

How to watch: Max

Orange County Register

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Bellator MMA’s Lorenz Larkin isn’t getting any younger, but possibly better

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