March 15, 2023 10:15 am ET
LONDON – Marvin Vettori used to be a great deal surprised former coaching accomplice Roman Dolidze used to be rapid to safe a fight in opposition to him.
Vettori (18-5-1 MMA, 8-4-1 UFC) meets Dolidze (12-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) in a middleweight bout on Saturday’s UFC 286 predominant card opener at The O2 in London. The important thing card airs on pay-per-look for following prelims on ESPNews and early prelims on ESPN+.
Vettori will ogle to rebound from his loss to ex-champion Robert Whittaker this past September, but that’s now not the handiest ingredient on his mind.
“This fight is deepest for me in a fashion that I’ve by no map had two losses in a row, and here’s now not going to be the case (this week),” Vettori acknowledged at Wednesday’s UFC 286 media day. “I will’t wait to switch out and build on a performance.
“It’s miles moderately deepest with Roman, too, in a fashion because we of course trained together sooner than and stuff and we like some correct chums in total. He didn’t think twice when accepting the fight.”
The two trained together at Kings MMA, and Vettori implied he archaic to gain the easier of Dolidze during their sessions.
“They went successfully for me, I suspect, but I’m perchance the most considerable to grunt that coaching ain’t a fight,” Vettori acknowledged. “However aloof, for definite they went successfully.”
For added on the cardboard, focus on over with MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 286.
