Lorenz Larkin “Pissed Off” Over Early Ending, No Contest at Bellator 283

The welterweight return of Lorenz Larkin did not play out according to plan, after an illegal elbow landed on Mukhamed Berkhamov, leading to a no contest.

The incident occurred midway through the opening round, and brought a halt to a fight Larkin was feeling good about.

Following the bout, Larkin (24-7, 2NC) addressed the blow, and admitted that he was “pissed off” about the outcome.

“At first I didn’t know if I hit him with a bad elbow, then I seen the replay, I was like ‘okay,'” Larkin recalled, speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press. “But I was like, it wasn’t as hard as I wanted it to be. I knew I hit him with it, but it wasn’t what I thought [it had to be] to be stopped.”

Larkin went through the entire gamut of emotions following the bout. “I was more disappointed in myself, because I wasn’t even breathing hard. I wasn’t even tired. The wrestling, I was all for it. Even when I felt him on top, I was like, ‘I’m going to keep making you work.’ That’s what I was so pissed off about, because I felt good. I wasn’t even in the slightest bit breathing hard.”

“Then I got super pissed at him, because when we went back to the doctor’s room, it wasn’t even his head,” he continued. “It wasn’t even his head that was hurt. It’s his knee.”

Larkin overheard the conversation between Berkhamov and the doctor, which led to him questioning why the fight was called. “I’m trying to sit here and be respectful, but I was just sitting next to him, and it wasn’t even his head that’s hurting. He just said ‘oh it’s a little bit,’ but it’s his knee. Left knee.”

“Yes it sucks that I did an elbow like that, which I recognize and I am sorry for him for that, but he had nothing for me. Yes he got the takedown, but on top of me, I was like ‘I’m going to keep making this motherf*cker work, because I’m not tired,’ and I wasn’t even— I’m telling you guys, I wish that fight could have kept going, man.”

In all his training over the past week, Larkin added that his coach was way harder to grapple with than Berkhamov was during the fight. “That’s why I was so pissed off, man. I never cry. Coach, have you ever seen me f*cking cry in my life? I never cry. I just didn’t know what to do. I trained so hard, I felt so good, I felt like I could have done 15 rounds.”

Watch the full Bellator 283 post-fight press conference appearance by Lorenz Larkin above. More coverage from the event can be found below.