Latifi vs Nascimento

Who won Latifi vs Nascimento?

Rodrigo Nascimento beat Ilir Latifi by split decision in their 3 round contest during the prelims of UFC Fight Night – Pennington vs. Aldana 2, on Saturday 20th May 2023 at UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

The scorecards were announced in favor of the winner Rodrigo Nascimento.

The fight was scheduled to take place over 3 rounds in the Heavyweight division, which meant the weight limit was 265 pounds (18.9 stone or 120.2 KG).

Latifi vs Nascimento stats

Ilir Latifi stepped into the octagon with a record of 16 wins, 8 losses and 0 draws, 6 of those wins coming by the way of knock out and 4 by submission.

Rodrigo Nascimento made his way to the cage with a record of 9 wins, 1 loss and 0 draws, 2 of those wins coming by knock out and 6 by submission.

Ilir Latifi's UFC record stood at 9-7-0, while Rodrigo Nascimento's came in at 4-1-0.

The stats suggested Latifi had an advantage in power over Nascimento, with a 38% knock out percentage over Nascimento's 22%.

If the fight went to the ground, their records suggested Nascimento had a massive advantage over Latifi, boasting a 67% submission rate over Latifi's 25%.

Ilir Latifi was the older man by 9 years, at 40 years old.

Nascimento had a height advantage of 4 inches over Latifi. That also extended to a 5-inch reach advantage.

Latifi was the more experienced professional fighter, having had 14 more fights, and made his debut in 2008, 3 years and 10 months earlier than Nascimento, whose first professional fight was in 2012. He had fought 31 more professional rounds, 53 to Nascimento's 22.

Latifi vs Nascimento form

Ilir Latifi had beaten 2 of his last 5 opponents.

In his last fight leading up to this contest, he had won against Aleksei Oleinik at UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Yan on 1st October 2022 by unanimous decision in their 3 round contest at UFC Apex, Las Vegas, United States.

Previous to that, he had beaten Tanner Boser at UFC Vegas 28 on 5th June 2021 by split decision in their 3 round contest.

Going into that contest, he had lost to Derrick Lewis at UFC 247 on 8th February 2020 by unanimous decision in their 3 round contest at Toyota Center, Houston.

Before that, he had been beaten by Volkan Oezdemir at UFC on ESPN+ 14 on 10th August 2019 by knockout in the 2nd round at Antel Arena, Montevideo, Uruguay.

He had been defeated by Corey Anderson at UFC 232 on 29th December 2018 by unanimous decision in their 3 round contest at The Forum, Inglewood, United States.

Activity check

Latifi's last 5 fights had come over a period of 5 years, 3 months and 27 days, meaning he had been fighting on average every 1 year and 23 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 14 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 2.8 rounds on average.

Nascimento's last 2 fights had come over a period of 2 years, 9 months and 8 days, meaning he had been fighting on average every 1 year, 4 months and 21 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 5 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 2.5 rounds on average.

What were the odds on Latifi vs Nascimento?

Ilir Latifi was a 31/20 (+150) underdog going into the contest, while Rodrigo Nascimento made his way into the ring at 53/100 (-190) with oddsmakers.