The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to
London has its first fight put together, and it is quite a good
one.
The UFC’s broadcast partner of ESPN
broke the news on Thursday that UFC 286
has gained its first matchup of the billing. At the O2 Arena in
London, top-10 middleweights collide as Marvin
Vettori (18-6-1) battles it out with Roman
Dolidze (12-1). Georgia’s Dolidze has since confirmed this
pairing on his Instagram page.
Boisterous Italian Vettori has alternated wins and losses in his
last four appearances, albeit against some of the best opposition
his weight class has to offer. While he topped Kevin
Holland in April 2021 to put him on a five-fight win streak, a
title fight and rematch against Israel
Adesanya three months later did not go his way, as he dropped a
five-round verdict to the then-champ. In a victorious rebounding
effort – albeit at 205 pounds when his opponent announced he would
not make the middleweight limit – he topped Paulo Costa
in a 25-minute scrap. His lone 2022 match came against ex-champion
Robert
Whittaker, and he dropped a three-round verdict to lead into
this new matchup.
While Vettori has potentially hit a ceiling, Dolidze has surged in
the last 18 months. Winner of four fights in a row, Dolidze topped
Laureano
Staropoli in June 2021 for what remains his second career
decision victory. His 2022 campaign could scarcely have gone
better, as he blitzed Kyle
Daukaus in 73 seconds, put Phil Hawes
out with punches a few months later and stepped in on short notice
to wreck Jack
Hermansson in early December — and all three stoppages earned
him “Performance of the Night” checks. The latter triumph, one in
which he replaced Derek
Brunson on the card, stamped the new Xtreme Couture trainee as
an elite middleweight.
There are no other bouts currently booked for UFC 286, which is set
to take place at the O2 Arena in London. This event was once
rumored to be held in a soccer stadium, but the organization
elected to post up in the familiar venue instead. A discussed
rematch between welterweight king Leon
Edwards and former titleholder Kamaru
Usman may play out on this event, but recent reports have
suggested an Usman hand injury may scrub that pairing.