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#2. Marvin Vettori vs. Karl Roberson
They say that there's nothing sweeter than revenge and UFC middleweight Marvin Vettori had nothing else on his mind when he entered the Octagon on Saturday night to face Karl Roberson in the co-headliner of UFC Fight Night 172 taking place inside the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas.
There's no love lost between the pair and it was evident that Vettori had a lot of pent up anger and frustration towards Roberson and the former unleashed it all once the cage doors closed behind the pair.
Vettori and Roberson finally threw down after several postponements and cancellations and once the fight came to fruition, the Italian fighter showed up big time, making quick work of Roberson and finishing him with a rear-naked choke to take the win in the very first round of the co-main event of the night.
“I just train so hard. This is my reward. I was so hyped up before the fight because this is what I love to do.”
There bad blood between the pair started after Vettori blasted Roberson for failing to make weight a month ago and landing up in the hospital, which forced their fight to be delayed. Roberson failed to make weight this time as well but Vettori didn't care. Catchweight bout it is, the Italian was just hell bent on punishing his opponent.
Vettori flew off the gates like a canon and launched a barrage of strikes at Roberson before ending up grappling. Vettori eventually managed to complete the takedown and from there, the "Italian Dream" just punished Roberson mercilessly into exposing his back, allowing the former to lock in the rear naked choke and force him to submit.
This was Vettori's third win on the trot inside the Octagon and following the fight, he revealed that he's working his way up the middleweight ladder in the hopes of setting up another summit clash with the reigning champion of the 185lbers, Israel Adesanya.
“Everybody’s been dodging me. I don’t think they can hide anymore. I want climb back to a title shot and get my rematch with Adesanya.”
