Dubai-based Mounir Lazzez refocused and ready for long-awaited UFC return

Finally, after 15 months and cancelled bouts and replacement rivals, Mounir Lazzez is back competing in the UFC.

The road to his return has been long, with a succession of bumps along the way, but on Sunday morning the Dubai-based welterweight takes on Ange Loosa at UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Understandably, what’s gone before - Lazzez's US debut last July was scuppered by visa issues, while Loosa was an 11th-hour stand-in this week - has only added fuel to the fire.

“It gives you more hunger, it gives you more appreciation for the opportunity you get after a long time, for sure,” Lazzez tells The National from his hotel room Stateside. “It feels good, man. It’s been a long journey and I’m so grateful and happy to get the opportunity to be here in Las Vegas.

“Different place, different atmosphere. New energy.”

Lazzez’s last appearance in the UFC – his second – came in January last year, when he lost to Warlley Alves at Eithad Arena in Abu Dhabi after accepting the fight on short notice. A Dubai resident since 2012, the Tunisian was returning from a troublesome bout of Covid-19 that forced his withdrawal from a scheduled clash at a UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi the previous October, and he was beaten by first-round TKO.

It snapped his three-fight win streak, a significant setback following his triumphant Fight of the Night debut in the promotion during the inaugural Fight Island in July 2020.

Predictably, lessons were learnt.

“That I have to listen to my management,” Lazzez says with a smile. “Short notice, came after Covid. I’m not making excuses - I take the win and the loss the same. But I was big-headed, even when my management said 8-10 days isn’t enough. I said, ‘No I can do it’. And reality hit me.”

Thankfully, though,