Former UFC middleweight title challenger Marvin Vettori desires to waste no time running it back with Roman Dolidze.
Marvin Vettori and Roman Dolidze placed on a ‘Fight of the 12 months’ candidate at UFC Vegas 104 on Saturday on the Apex. It was an exciting bout from start to complete between two of the highest middleweights on this planet.
After five rounds, Dolidze squeaked out a unanimous decision win over Vettori to get his revenge after their first clash at UFC 286. Vettori won the previous clash by unanimous decision within the three-rounder.
Vettori expressed a somber tone in his first public remarks after UFC Vegas 104, sharing disappointment and heartbreak in a recent Instagram post. But hours later, Vettori struck a special tone as he looked ahead to what could potentially be his next UFC booking.
Marvin Vettori vs. Roman Dolidze 3?
In a recent post to X, Vettori called to run it back with Dolidze while striking a humorous tone along with his social media following.
“I assume [we’ll] need a trilogy,” Vettori posted Sunday. “Probably the most nonsense trilogy I agree with you b—— lol. But at this point it has to occur.”
Vettori returned to the Octagon at UFC Vegas 104 for the primary time since a unanimous decision loss to Jared Cannonier in June 2023. He’s lost three of his last 4 fights overall, along with his victory over Dolidze being the lone victory through the current stretch.
Meanwhile, Dolidze continued his stand up the middleweight ranks after defeating Kevin Holland by first-round stoppage at UFC 307. He’s won three consecutive fights after suffering back-to-back defeats to Vettori and Nassourdine Imavov.
Roman Dolidze called out Marvin Vettori’s former rivals after UFC Vegas 104
After outpointing Vettori at UFC Vegas 104, Dolidze called out Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker as a component of his two-man hit list. While Adesanya hasn’t responded as of this writing, Whittaker replied to Dolidze with a dismissive approach.
Adesanya has lost three-straight fights, including a recent TKO loss to Imavov in February. While he’s repeatedly teased a possible retirement, he seems on the right track to return to the Octagon later this yr to try and get back into the win column.
Whittaker hasn’t fought since a first-round submission loss to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 308 in October. The previous titleholder earned wins over the likes of Vettori and Ikram Aliskerov before the Chimaev fight.
Dolidze and Vettori could potentially meet for a 3rd time down the road, although the UFC matchmakers rarely book immediate trilogies. Within the meantime, Vettori and Dolidze are still vying for title contention and a likelihood to disrupt the middleweight elite.
