ORLANDO – Ilir Latifi was all set to fight Ovince Saint Preux a month ago in Charlotte. Less than two weeks before the fight, he had to pull out.

On Saturday, Latifi (13-5 MMA, 6-3 UFC) and Saint Preux (22-10 MMA, 10-5 UFC) meet in their delayed light heavyweight fight on the UFC on FOX 28 main card at Amway Center in Orlando, Fla. The card airs on FOX following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

The delay was a nuisance for both fighters, almost certainly. For Saint Preux it meant he finally could fight in his home state of Florida for the first time as a pro. For Latifi, it meant hitting the reset button to recover and then get back to the task at hand.

“In this sport, these things happen,” Latifi today told MMAjunkie in Orlando. “You’ve always got to be prepared for the unpreparable. (The challenge) was to refocus and start over, but everything went well after that.”

Latifi said he started his training camp for the first fight at UFC on FOX 27 at American Top Team in South Florida before moving it back to Sweden, where he works with the likes of Alexander Gustafsson and Jimi Manuwa at Allstars Training Center.

He hopes training partners of that caliber will help pay off against a bigger opponent like Saint Preux – though he acknowledges that most light heavyweights are going to be bigger than him at 5-foot-8.

“(I’m) just working hard with my teammates – me and Alex and Jimi have been pushing the limits and the results have been good,” he said. “We’re just doing what we have to do to be the best.”

The best is what Latifi is targeting. He’s won four of his past five fights dating back to mid-2015. He’s approaching five years in the UFC, and the losses there have been few and far between. A win over the likes of Saint Preux, Latifi reasons, could put him in title consideration.

And that’s what he’s after.

“All respect to ‘OSP’ – I think he’s a great fighter,” Latifi said. “He’s been around a while and fought the best. He’s been in some tough battles. It was a good challenge for me, but it was the fight to take to (go to) the next level. In this sport, everybody has struggles. But when you overcome those struggles you get better. He came back after a three-(fight) loss streak and he’s been doing good. He got his things together and did something good out of it, so all respect to him.

“(Winning gets me) closer to the title – that’s what I’m aiming for, too. That’s why we’re here fighting, because we want that shot.”

For more from Latifi, check out the video above.

And for more on UFC on FOX 28, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.