Chris Fields made himself available to UFC for Latifi bout

TUF 19 cast member and former Cage Warriors middleweight champion, Chris Fields, revealed that he would have no problem stepping in to fight Ilir Latifi, hours before the UFC announced American Chris Dempsey as the replacement for Tom Lawlor on the UFC Fight Night: McGregor vs Brandao card.

“I’d take the fight no problem, against Ilir Lafifi or anyone. I’ve taken fights on eight days’ notice so I’d have no problem doing it for a show in front of my home crowd.

“I’ve seen his two fights in the UFC. I watched Gegard Mousasi jab his way to a decision against him in Sweden, but in fairness Latifi took that fight on two days’ notice.

“He looked really impressive against Cyrille Diabate in March. Diabate isn’t much of a grappler and Latifi was able to come out, take him down and submit him fairly quickly,” said Fields speaking from Manchester Airport.

Not only did the Irishman voice his interest in the fight, he claimed that he had been in contact with the UFC and told them that he wanted to step in for Lawlor. Having now announced Dempsey as Latifi’s new foe, who will make his UFC debut on the night, Irish fans are sure to wonder why they didn’t draft in the rangy SBG man.

“I’ve told the UFC that I would happily take the fight, or any fight that comes up on that card. Initially I was going to take a break from now until Christmas, but this has come up now so that could be the end of that plan.

“There’s just been so much going on over the last while, I just felt like I needed a break. I’ve done this before though, and as soon as a fight comes up I want it straight away. I just love fighting too much.”

Commenting on his chances of being granted the spot against the Swede, Fields cited Jimi Manuwa as one of the “big names” he thought UFC would pursue as opposed to him for the Dublin date.

He said: “As far as my chances of getting the fight, I honestly think they’ll look for a bigger name. I’ve been hearing people talking about Jimi Manuwa so he might be interested in taking it, he might see it as an easy way back into the win column. Stylistically it might not suit him though, we’ll have to wait and see.”

@PetesyCarroll