INGLEWOOD, Calif. – It’s only February, but don’t be surprised if Lorenz Larkin remains a candidate for Knockout of the Year by the end of 2023. And that has him feeling a certain way.
Larkin obliterated Mukhamed Berkhamov with a hellacious elbow to win by first-round knockout Saturday night at Bellator 290. The finish sent the crowd at Kia Forum into a frenzy given how violent it was, with Berkhamov’s limp body crashing to the canvas face first.
Afterward, Larkin spoke like a man still with a chip on his shoulder at 36.
“It’s just another feather in the cap. For me, it was more so like redemption from what happened last time and from a lot of people thinking that this fight was gonna go the whole other way,” Larkin told reporters backstage, including MMA Junkie. “I think just from my interviews from the last fight showed how much frustration I had, and I had such a good camp the last fight and how I felt, even though he took me down and yada yada yada. I just felt like he had nothing for me.
“For this fight to happen like that, this was no luck. I wish there was f*cking cameras in the back of me warming up. These are the things I work on. I’m more happy in this moment just to show off the hard work that me and my team put in. That’s where it’s at for me.”
It was the second encounter between Larkin (25-7 MMA, 7-2 BMMA) and Berkhamov (15-2 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) after an illegal strike (an elbow) caused their Bellator 283 fight to end in a no contest last July. The finish at Bellator 290 happened while the two men engaged in a back-and-forth of punches before they clinched in the middle of the cage. On the break, that’s when Larkin unleashed his vicious elbow that landed flush to the temple.
Larkin, who became the first man in 16 fights to finish Berkhamov, was glad to leave no doubt, not just because what it says about him but also his team at Southern California’s Millenia MMA.
“If you grab me, these are the tools that I have in my bag,” Larkin said. “And if you give me the opportunity, I’m gonna take it. It’s nothing to cut you. I’m not trying to cut you. I’m trying to do what I did tonight. Everything has bad intentions on it. This is just a little bit of me and a big part of my team.”
LORENZ FREAKIN’ LARKIN WITH THE HELL-BOW KNOCKOUT.
And he was hyped! 😤🙌#Bellator290 | Live results: https://t.co/n3DPN0OQYc pic.twitter.com/8hZeUP66Rb
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) February 5, 2023
Larkin, who joined Bellator after leaving the UFC in 2016, got off to a rough start when he joined, losing to then-welterweight champion Douglas Lima and Paul Daley in his first two promotional appearances. Things have changed since then as he’s currently on a seven-fight winning streak.
It could be time for another title shot, although Larkin didn’t have a specific opponent in mind for what could be next.
“I never have a name in mind,” said Larkin, who expressed wanting to compete March 31 at Bellator 293 in Temecula. “My thing is, Bellator calls me, they give me a name, I can text back or say yes. That’s it. I don’t need to call nobody out. I’ve fought the best of the best. I’m not scared of nobody. I just take the fights. I don’t need to do all the sh*t talking, all the callouts. At the end of the day, I just put my f*cking head down, I grind it out, and I keep showing up. That’s all I do – lace these f*cking boots and go to work. I don’t need to do all the other sh*t. It comes along with it.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 290.
