Lorenz Larkin (born September 3, 1986) is an American professional mixed martial artist currently competing in the Welterweight division of Bellator MMA. A professional competitor since 2009, Larkin formerly competed for Strikeforce and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As of September 26, 2023, he is #8 in the Bellator Welterweight Rankings.
Background
Larkin was born and raised in Riverside, California as one of nine siblings. Larkin began training in boxing at a young age and also played football, but soon gave it up because he did not excel at it or other team sports. He attended Riverside Polytechnic High School. Afterwards, he continued boxing but was not able to compete as much as he would like to, due to his father's objections. Larkin also felt that he was too short to be a professional boxer in the heavyweight division, so he took up Kickboxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu which led him to mixed martial arts. Prior to his career in mixed martial arts, Larkin also trained in Kung Fu. In an interview, Larkin stated he enjoyed the martial arts movies that were popular around the time he was growing up and wanted to be a Kung Fu fighter.
Mixed martial arts career
Early career
Larkin holds records of 5–0 and 10–0 in amateur boxing and amateur mixed martial arts, respectively, with one of those wins coming against UFC Heavyweight Walt Harris. Making his professional MMA debut in August 2009, he compiled an undefeated record of 12–0.
Strikeforce
Larkin made his debut in the Strikeforce promotion on April 1, 2011, against kickboxer Scott Lighty at Strikeforce Challengers: Wilcox vs. Damm, replacing Satoshi Ishii on a week's notice. Larkin won the fight via technical knockout in the second round and earned praise for his impressive performance against a veteran fighter, while being largely unheard of himself.
Larkin returned to the promotion in June 2011. He faced Gian Villante and won the fight via unanimous decision. Villante controlled the first round from top position but Larkin turned it around in the second round by keeping the fight on the feet and landing many strong kicks to the legs of his opponent. Larkin kept this up in the third round while also scoring an unexpected takedown in the last ten seconds.
Larkin was originally scheduled to headline the next challengers event against Virgil Zwicker but Zwicker pulled out due to an injury. Larkin instead faced Nick Rossborough and won the fight via unanimous decision.
Larkin next faced Muhammed Lawal at Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine. He lost the fight via KO in the second round, the first loss of his professional career. However, the result was overturned and changed to a No Contest after Lawal tested positive for steroids (Drostanolone).
For his next fight, Larkin dropped down to Middleweight division. He faced heavy-handed future UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler on July 14, 2012, at Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Kennedy. He won the fight via unanimous decision.
Larkin was to challenge Luke Rockhold for the championship on November 3, 2012, at Strikeforce: Cormier vs. Mir. The event was to be held at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, but was cancelled in October 2012. The fight was rescheduled and set to take place on January 12, 2013. However, Rockhold once again pulled out of the fight due to injury. Larkin was then scheduled to face Ronaldo Souza, but the fight never materialized.
Ultimate Fighting Championship
In January 2013, the Strikeforce organization was closed by its parent company Zuffa. A list of fighters scheduled to be brought over to the Ultimate Fighting Championship was released in mid-January and Larkin was one of the fighters listed.
On February 9, 2013, the UFC announced that Larkin would make his debut against Francis Carmont at UFC on Fox: Henderson vs. Melendez in San Jose, California. He lost the fight due to a controversial unanimous decision with many major MMA media scoring the fight as a win for Larkin.
For his second UFC appearance, Larkin faced Chris Camozzi on November 6, 2013, at UFC Fight Night 31. He won the fight via unanimous decision.
Larkin faced Brad Tavares on January 15, 2014, at UFC Fight Night 35. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.
Larkin faced Costas Philippou at UFC Fight Night 40. He lost the back-and-forth fight via knockout in the first round.
Larkin was expected to face Derek Brunson at UFC 176. However, after UFC 176 was cancelled, Larkin/Brunson was rescheduled and eventually took place on August 30, 2014, at UFC 177. Larkin lost the fight by unanimous decision.
