Ahead of his clash against Marvin Vettori at UFC Vegas 104, Roman Dolidze has given his thoughts on the state of the middleweight division.
This coming Saturday at UFC Vegas 104, Roman Dolidze and Marvin Vettori will meet in the Octagon for a second time after their first meeting at UFC 286 ended in a controversial decision.
Since their first meeting, ‘The Italian Dream’ has only fought once, losing to Jared Cannoier, whereas Dolidze has picked up two impressive wins in a row against Anthony Smith and a strange win against Kevin Holland.
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Roman Dolidze believes there is a new era in the middleweight division
‘The Caucasian’ finds himself ranked 12th in the 185lb division with Vettori currently ranked eighth despite being 1-2 in his last three fights.
With the top of the division being somewhat full of older contenders coming off losses, such as Israel Adesanya, Robert Whittaker, and Sean Strickland, Dolidze believes there is a ‘new era’ coming through.
“I think there is a new era, the era is changing and I will say, there are a lot of guys who already deserve to fight for the title, but there are so many that they need to be in line and it takes time… All these guys need to fight, they can’t just wait,” Dolidze told Bloody Elbow in an exclusive interview.
Roman Dolidze thinks Khamzat Chimaev could be ‘in trouble’ against Du Plessis
Champion of the division, Dricus Du Plessis, will likely defend his title against Khamzat Chimaev next with that fight continuously rumored.
Many fans aren’t giving ‘Stillknocks’ a chance in that fight due to Chimaev’s continued dominance, however, Dolidze believes ‘Borz’ could find himself ‘in trouble’.
“After his fight against Whittaker I would say yes, he deserves (to fight for the title). It was an impressive win, I always wanted to fight against Khamzat… he truly deserves now to fight for the title.
“It won’t be an easy fight for either of them and I’m very interested in that fight. Khamzat is a fighter who can take down anybody, but I don’t think he can finish everybody on the ground, and when he can’t finish, then he gets in trouble because he gets gassed out.
“Maybe he can win in earlier rounds, but after that he will probably have a problem,” he continued.