Lorenz Larkin

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 ever so popular around the time he was growing up and wanted to be a Kung Fu fighter.

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 Heavyweight prospect 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.

For his next fight, Larkin moved down to the welterweight division. He faced John Howard on January 18, 2015 at UFC Fight Night 59. Larkin won the fight via TKO in the first round. The performance also earned Larkin his first Performance of the Night bonus award.

Larkin faced Santiago Ponzinibbio on June 27, 2015 at UFC Fight Night 70. Larkin won the fight via TKO in the second round and earned a Fight of the Night bonus.

Larkin faced Albert Tumenov on January 2, 2016 at UFC 195. He lost the back-and-forth fight by split decision.

Larkin faced Jorge Masvidal on May 29, 2016 at UFC Fight Night 88. He won the back-and-forth fight via split decision.

Larkin faced Neil Magny on August 20, 2016 at UFC 202. He won the bout via TKO in the first round, after hurting his opponent with leg kicks and finishing the fight with elbows.

Bellator MMA

In March 2017, Larkin announced he had signed a multi-fight deal with Bellator MMA.

In his debut, Larkin faced welterweight champion Douglas Lima at Bellator NYC on June 24, 2017. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.

Larkin, former UFC fighter, will compete this at Bellator 183, to face British striker Paul Daley on September 23, 2017.

Championships and accomplishments