This past Saturday in the main event of UFC Vegas 104, we saw a middleweight rematch between two ranked contenders. Former title challenger Marvin Vettori (19-7-1) was fighting for the first time in nearly two years as he took on Roman Dolidze (15-3).
These two first fought back in 2023 with Vettori picking up the decision win. However, it felt like Dolidze had a lot more momentum entering this fight considering his two-fight win streak and the fact that he’s been active. Meanwhile, Vettori had been out and had been dealing with injuries. There were whispers that he still wasn’t 100% on Saturday night.
Throughout the fight, Dolidze just had much more volume than Vettori and that really told the story. Vettori did have a big moment in the third when he hurt Dolidze badly but he couldn’t finish the fight. Due to the volume and bigger shots throughout the other four rounds, Dolidze comfortably won a decision at UFC Vegas 104.
What’s next after UFC Vegas 104?
Following the win, there were a couple of former champions on the mind of Roman Dolidze. He called out the likes of Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya. Whittaker is coming off the loss to Khamzat Chimaev while Adesanya is coming off the knockout loss to Nassourdine Imavov earlier this year.
In the latest UFC rankings update, Dolidze came in at 9th and there are several options ahead of him. Personally, I don’t see fights with Adesanya or Whittaker happening. Just my personal opinion there. Instead, I think it’s more likely that we see Dolidze against another former title challenger like Jared Cannonier. Cannonier is coming off a knockout win over Gregory Rodrigues and he’s currently ranked 7th. That seems like a good next step for Dolidze.