LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Marvin Vettori[/autotag] won’t be a stepping stone for Roman Dolidze.
Vettori (18-5-1 MMA, 8-4-1 UFC) meets Dolidze on the UFC 286 main card on March 18 at The O2 in London. The former title challenger has lost two of his past three, but setbacks came to ex-champs [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] and [autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag].
With a win over the streaking Dolidze (12-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC), Vettori plans on showing that he’s still a top contender.
“He’s definitely dangerous in some positions, but I think he’s trying to chew too much for his mouth,” Vettori told MMA Junkie. “He’s trying to take too big of a step for him, but he’s taking his chance and I’ll be there to prove him wrong.
“I’m still running after the title, don’t get me wrong. Don’t count me out, I’m in the top five, I’m one of the youngest in the division, and I’m coming for everything. I already faced everybody in the division and I can’t wait to just put it on, and I really want a finish, and we go from there.”
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A new middleweight champion was crowned when Alex Pereira dethroned Adesanya at UFC 281. The pair are set to rematch in the UFC 287 headliner on April 8, and Vettori thinks the recent movement in the division benefits him.
“The middleweight division is so open,” Vettori said. “Pereira is the champ right now, he’s fighting Adesanya. I really believe I would do really well against those two now. My grappling has improved a lot, my kicking has improved a lot, I’m way more of a finisher right now. The division is so open. Like Pereira is 35 or 36, Adesanya is 33 or 34. Whittaker is not a brand-new flower even though he’s a beast. So yeah, it’s all about matchups.”
He continued, “I’m just gonna keep winning and just going to be right there beating everybody they put in front of me, and I’m sure the title will come.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 286.