Boston's UFC Fight Night 81 adds Ilir Latifi vs. Sean O'Connell light heavyweight scrap

Sean O’Connell

Things couldn’t have gone much better for Sean O'Connell the last time he fought in Boston. Now he’ll try for a repeat at UFC Fight Night 81.

O’Connell (17-6 MMA, 2-2 UFC) has been booked for a light heavyweight bout against Ilir Latifi (10-4 MMA, 3-2 UFC) when the UFC returns to “Beantown” this winter. UFC officials announced the new booking today.

UFC Fight Night 81 takes place Jan. 17, a Sunday, at TD Garden in Boston. The majority of the card is expected to air on FOX Sports 1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

O’Connell has won back-to-back fights by TKO – including a “Fight of the Night” third-round stoppage of Matt Van Buren at UFC Fight Night 59 in Boston earlier this year. Now a year to the day later, he’ll hope for another successful outing. After his stoppage of Van Buren, he shut down Anthony Perosh in Australia in May with a TKO in just 56 seconds.

Latifi has won three of his past four fights by stoppage on an impressive run. He debuted in the UFC on extreme short notice in April 2013, fighting Gegard Mousasi in place of teammate Alexander Gustafsson. He took him the distance, but dropped a decision. Since then, though, he has a trio of first-round finishes, including a submission of Cyrille Diabate and knockouts of Chris Dempsey and, most recently, Hans Stringer in July.

All of Latifi’s UFC fights have taken place in Europe, so his trip to Boston will mark his first fight in the States since July 2011, when he lost to eventual Bellator champ Emanuel Newton at a Shark Fights event in Texas.

With the addition, the latest UFC Fight Night 81 card includes:

• Champ T.J. Dillashaw vs. Dominick Cruz – for bantamweight title
• Eddie Alvarez vs. Anthony Pettis
• Travis Browne vs. Matt Mitrione
• Tim Boetsch vs. Ed Herman
• Daron Cruickshank vs. Paul Felder
• Patrick Cote vs. Ben Saunders
• Ross Pearson vs. Francisco Trinaldo
• Ilir Latifi vs. Sean O’Connell

For more on UFC Fight Night 81, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.