Did Marvin Vettori Get His Wires Crossed?
Marvin Vettori’s Next Opponent Confirmed
The news dropped this week that Marvin Vettori (19-6-1 MMA, 9-5-1 UFC) will face Roman Dolidze (14-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) for the second time when the pair meet in the main event at UFC Vegas 104 on March 15th.
The clash at the UFC Apex comes two years after their first encounter at UFC 286, where Vettori where “The Italian Dream” emerged victorious by way of unanimous decision.
In a (frankly hilarious) post on social media, it looks as though Vettori may have mixed up his Romans, as he tweeted:
“Lol this whole time I thought it’s Roman Kopylov but it’s actually Roman Dolidze. All good, different last name, same result”.
A Tale Of Two Romans
Roman Dolidze sits tenth in the UFC’s middleweight rankings, three places below Vettori. The 36-year-old Georgian had been on somewhat of a tear before he ran in Vettori at UFC 286, racking up three consecutive finishes over Kyle Daukaus, Phil Hawes and Jack Hermansson before the loss to Vettori snapped that winning streak.
He also lost his next outing to Nassourdine Imavov in February of last year before picking up two wins over Anthony Smith and Kevin Holland to finish the year strongly.
Roman Kopylov (14-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) hasn’t quite cracked into the rankings at 185 lbs just yet but has begun 2025 in impressive fashion. He finished Chris Curtis with a headkick in the dying moments of their clash on the opening UFC fight card of the year at the Apex two weeks ago.
Former Title Challenger Returns
Marvin Vettori hasn’t been seen in the Octagon since suffering a defeat at the hands of Jared Cannonier in June of 2023.
A variety of injury issues have plagued the 31-year-old and he even hinted at retirement in a social media post just before Christmas, as he tweeted:
“So who wants to fight an easy top 10 guy on his way to retirement?? I’m ok with anyone, just my last few so maybe I can call it”.
Vettori enjoyed his most fruitful spell in the UFC between 2019-2021. Five consecutive wins earned him a title shot against Israel Adesanya at UFC 263 where he would ultimately lose by unanimous decision.
Paul Browne is a professional mixed martial arts commentator, feature writer and podcaster based in Dublin, Ireland.
