When Lorenz Larkin came to Bellator, he was on a serious streak.
Larkin signed with the promotion in 2017 after a lengthy run in the UFC, and his first fight for Bellator was for the welterweight title – something that was deemed deserving given he had wins in four of his final five UFC fights, including victories over Santiago Ponzinibbio, Neil Magny and Jorge Masvidal.
Larkin lost that title fight to Douglas Lima, and his follow-up didn’t go as planned against Paul Daley. But since then, he’s rattled off six straight wins at welterweight and middleweight.
If that has people thinking, “Where’s his title shot?” it would be no surprise. But Larkin appears to be done wondering about that himself.
“Just keep fighting me. I’m happy with my next fight right now,” Larkin recently told MMA Junkie Radio. “Hopefully I get my third one the end of December, somewhere by then. I’m done. I’m just exhausted with the whole ‘Who deserves a title shot?’ Words don’t mean nothing these days. It’s already been documented that my next fight was supposed to be for the title, and obviously that didn’t happen. I wasn’t hurt. So now I’m just at the point where I’m just like, keep me active.”
Larkin (24-7 MMA, 6-2 BMMA) returns to welterweight Friday at Bellator 283 to take on Mukhamed Berkhamov (15-1 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) at Emerald Queen Casino in Tacomma, Wash. The main card, including Larkin’s fight, airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.
Larkin’s drop back to 170 pounds comes after a pair of wins at middleweight against former champion Rafael Carvalho and Kyle Stewart. But what’s been driving Larkin a little crazy is his lack of fights in Bellator, at least compared to what he’d like to have.
He fought three times in a calendar year twice during his UFC tenure in 2014 and 2016. But for Bellator, he’s maxed out at twice a year in 2017, 2018 and 2019. He didn’t fight in 2020 and fought just once in 2021. Now he’s hoping he can get past Berkhamov, then get the elusive third-in-a-year Bellator bout by the end of 2022.
“I’ve been trying to state this for like seven years now: ‘Just keep me active. Keep me active. Keep me active.’ I never was active (in Bellator),” Larkin said. “I always fought two times a year. At this point, I’m just like, another fight three months after mine, and then I’ll look forward to the end of the year for my third fight. That’s all I care about.
“They can fight about who wants to fight for the title if they want. I couldn’t give two sh*ts. You know I’m on this six-fight (winning streak). The public knows: Your boy’s on a six-fight winning streak – at 170 and 185. I’ve never fought three times (in a year). I’ve always talked about it and talked about it and tried to voice it, and it’s never come to fruition. This is a time when the timeline is looking good, and this is what I was saying I wanted.”
Check out Larkin’s full interview in the video below.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 283.
Bellator 283’s Lorenz Larkin done worrying about title shots: ‘Just keep me active’
