Ilir Latifi reveals he suffered a broken arm during split-decision win over Tanner Boser

Ilir Latifi had to tough out his split decision win over Tanner Boser at UFC Vegas 28 after a trip to the hospital revealed the injuries he suffered during the fight.

UFC officials had confirmed on Saturday night that Latifi was taken to a local medical facility for precautionary reasons after he eked out a hard-fought win over Boser.

Latifi then took to Instagram where he explained that he actually had two fractures in his arm from the grueling three-round battle against Boser.

“The sport is pretty crazy and it’s very hard to prepare for what can happen in a fight,” Latifi wrote while showing a photo of himself wearing a sling on his left arm. “Early in the first round I fractured my arm in two places, [and] in the second round I got a nasty eye poke that blinded me in that eye. We found the will to push through that and get the win.”

During the fight, it was noted that Latifi wasn’t throwing many punches after securing takedowns on Boser and the fact that he was competing with a broken arm through much of the fight seems to explain why his striking output slowed down so dramatically.

Ultimately, Latifi used his grappling and control on the ground to stop Boser from doing much damage on the feet, which resulted in the split-decision victory for the veteran from Sweden.

The victory was Latifi’s first since 2018 and it brought to an end his recent three-fight losing streak, which included a decision loss to top ranked heavyweight title contender Derrick Lewis last year.

Latifi is now 1-1 since moving to the heavyweight division after spending the rest of his UFC career competing at 205 pounds.

Latifi didn’t reveal how long the broken arm would keep him sidelined but at least his time off will be easier to deal with now that he’s coming off a win.