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Roman Dolidze and Marvin Vettori are scheduled to open the main card of UFC 286 this weekend. The middleweight clash appears alongside a host of exciting matchups taking place at this weekend's pay-per-view event in London, England.
A victory against Vettori could see the Georgian mentioned as a potential title challenger, depending on the result of the Alex Pereira vs. Israel Adesanya fight in April.
Roman Dolidze's rise through the MMA ranks occurred at a rapid pace, as he was signed by the UFC in 2019 after winning his first six professional fights. However, disaster struck for Dolidze before he could make his promotional debut. He tested positive for several illegal metabolites from an out-of-competition urine sample months after signing with the UFC.
The middleweight contender was suspended for one year and made his UFC debut in July 2020, 16 months after his initial suspension. He faced Khadis Ibragimov at UFC Fight Night 172 and won via TKO.
Aside from his MMA success, Roman Dolidze is an accomplished submission grappler. He won the ADCC Asia trials in 2016 and also became the European and World grappling champion under the United World Wrestling rules.
His previous fight against Jack Hermansson at UFC on ESPN 42 saw Dolidze awarded the Performance of the Night. The Georgian showcased his incredible grappling ability against Hermansson, who himself has a strong wrestling background.
Watch the finishing sequence of Dolidze vs. Hermansson below:
Roman Dolidze says that Marvin Vettori's comments confused him
Marvin Vettori stated earlier this week that his upcoming bout with Roman Dolidze is "personal" for a variety of reasons.
The former title challenger pointed out that he has never lost two fights in a row, something he hopes to continue. Vettori will be looking to bounce back from a tough loss to Robert Whittaker with a strong performance this weekend.
'The Italian Dream' also stated that he and Dolidze have trained together in the past and also share several mutual friends, which is why he was surprised when the Georgian accepted the fight without hesitation.
Dolidze responded to Marvin Vettori's comments by saying:
"I don't understand what that means. What [does] 'personal' mean? We're professionals, athletes, I want to fight the best guys. First of all, I know him, but I also know a lot of people. If I knew the whole [middleweight] roster in the UFC, [does that mean] I don't need to fight these guys? I don't understand why he thinks like that."
Check out Dolidze's comments below:
