March 15, 2023 10:15 am ET
LONDON – Marvin Vettori was shocked former coaching companion Roman Dolidze was fast to simply accept a combat 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 essential card opener at The O2 in London. The principle card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNews and early prelims on ESPN+.
Vettori will look to rebound from his loss to ex-champion Robert Whittaker this previous September, however that’s not the one factor on his thoughts.
“This combat is private for me in a way that I’ve by no means had two losses in a row, and this isn’t going to be the case (this week),” Vettori stated at Wednesday’s UFC 286 media day. “I can’t wait to exit and placed on a efficiency.
“It’s a bit private with Roman, too, in a way as a result of we really skilled collectively earlier than and stuff and we’ve got some good associates in frequent. He didn’t assume twice when accepting the combat.” The 2 skilled collectively at Kings MMA, and Vettori implied he used to get the higher of Dolidze throughout their classes.
“They went nicely for me, I imagine, however I’m the primary to say that coaching ain’t a combat,” Vettori stated. “However nonetheless, for positive they went nicely.”
For extra on the cardboard, go to MMA Junkie’s occasion hub for UFC 286.
