Ilir Latifi is a small light heavyweight in terms of size, but he is eyeing a move to heavyweight. The Swede is set to fight Volkan Oezdemir at UFC Uruguay on Saturday but he is already looking ahead.
“I even have plans of fighting at heavyweight, so let’s see,” Latifi said to MMA Fighting. “Both divisions are tough. Light heavyweight is as tough as heavyweight. Both divisions they hit hard; light heavyweight they are faster, higher paced. There are advantages of the heavier guys, so we’ll see.”
When he moves up to heavyweight, he already has an opponent in mind in Derrick Lewis. The fan-favorite is on a two-fight losing streak, but Latifi believes it would be a good fight. Yet, he isn’t worried about that just yet as he is focused on Oezdemir.
“I would like to fight anybody in the top-10 — maybe Derrick Lewis,” he said. “I’m not looking past Volkan, this is a fight to focus on and do it. After that, let’s see, let’s take the decision from there.”
Currently, Lewis is scheduled to face Blagoy Ivanov at UFC 244. There, he is looking to get back into the win column and back into title contention. If he loses, a fight against Latifi could make sense.
