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UFC middleweight contender Marvin Vettori endured a concerning amount of punishment in his unanimous decision loss to Jared Cannonier last weekened, but he will not let the loss get him down. Although some MMA fighters can have career-altering beatings, the ‘Italian Dream’ vows to come back stronger than ever for his next outing.
Marvin Vettori vows to come back stronger
On his official Instagram account, Marvin Vettori left an optmistic message to his followers. Though the post was short, the 29-year-old assured his fans that the loss did not break his spirit or deter him from pursuing his goals.
“A lion remains a lion. Spirit was never broken. I’ll be back stronger. I promise you that.” Vettori wrote.
In the comments, Vettori even received support from fellow UFC middleweight Kelvin Gastelum, who called the Italian a ‘Beast’, broadcast commentator Jon Anik who wrote ‘What a fighter’ and welterweight contender Belal Muhammad, who simply left some praying hands emojis.
Jared Cannonier broke a record with the win
Marvin Vettori’s loss to Cannonier broke the record for most significant strikes ever landed in a middleweight bout, with 249. Before that fight, Sean Strickland held the record for his win over Urial Hall, with 186 significant strikes landed.
In fact, the ‘Killa Gorilla’ even took the impressive performance over Vettori to send a message to the rest of the middleweight division. Although he is 39 years old, Cannonier wants the other contenders to know he plans on getting even better, especially on the ground.
“I’ve been studying these Dagestanis and stuff. As far as I’m concerned, that’s the mountain that I’m climbing, personally. I want to be as good as those Khabibs (Nurmagomedov), good as those Islams (Makhachev) in there, good as all those guys as far as grappling goes.”
“I’m going to keep working on my grappling. I’m going to keep getting better.” Cannonier said. I guess this is my second fight I’ve gotten a takedown, but my first fight that I’ve actively gone for takedowns. Improvements: I just want to keep showing improvements. The next fight, I want to keep showing more improvements.”
Vettori hasn’t won two fights in a row since 2021
The loss to Cannonier continues the patter of alternating wins and losses that Marvin Vettori started in his past five fights. In June 2021, the 29-year-old dropped a unanimous decision to Israel Adesanya, followed by a unanimous decision win over Paulo Costa, then a unanimous decision loss Robert Whittaker and a unanimous decision victory over Roman Dolidze in March of this year.
Meanwhile, Jared Cannonier (17-6) finds himself on a two-fight winning streak, with a split decision over Sean Strickland before the record-breaking Vettori win. The 39-year-old’s last defeat dates back to July 2022, when he dropped a unanimous decision to Israel Adesanya when they fought for the title at UFC 276.
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