Trilogy inbound? UFC Vegas 104 winner Roman Dolidze would fight Marvin Vettori a third time ‘out of respect’

Vettori did Dolidze a solid accepting a rematch, so “The Caucasian” feels honor-bound to return the favor.

Ryan Harkness breaks down daily mixed martial arts (MMA) news, providing unique context to stories that only 15 years of obsessing over the sport can provide, having worked for FOX Sports, Yahoo! Sports, UPROXX, MSN, Bleacher Report, HDNet and CagePotato, among others, before joining MMAmania.com in 2017.

If Roman Dolidze vs. Marvin Vettori 2 was the rematch no one asked for, what would you call Roman Dolidze vs. Marvin Vettori 3?

Dolidze defeated Vettori 49-46 on all three judges’ scorecards, weathering a mid-fight rally from “The Italian Dream” to win in dominant fashion. There doesn’t seem to be a reason Dana White and Co. would do it again, but hey ... we said that after their first fight in 2023 that saw Vettori win 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27.

For Dolidze, Vettori’s willingness to run it back is enough reason for a trilogy fight now that they’re 1-1.

“He gave me this rematch,” Dolidze said at the post-fight press conference (watch it here). “If UFC needed it and they tell me about it, I’ll probably do it, just out of respect. Because I respect that he agreed to fight me. Why would he do this? Back then, I was No. 10, he was No. 7.”

What’s funny is Vettori may not have intended to agree to a rematch. Shortly after the fight was announced, Vettori claimed he had accepted with the idea that he’d been offered up-and-coming Middleweight, Roman Kopylov.

Jokes or reality?

“He said he thought it was Roman Kopylov, but I don’t trust him,” Dolidze said. “He agreed to fight me. Just because of that respect of mine to him, I can do this. But, I think the UFC will have other plans for me.”

The win over Vettori puts Dolidze on a three-fight win streak and will likely catapult him up to No. 8 at 185 pounds.

“I deserve a Top 5 fight, and there are two realistic fights for me,” he said in the cage after his win. “Either Whittaker or Adesanya. Let’s go! Just give me date, that’s all I need. Nothing more!”

Better matchmaking?

Poll

Who wants to see a trilogy between Dolidze vs. Vettori?

• Yes
• No
• Maybe
• Dumbest Question Ever

vote view results

• 13%

  Yes

  (31 votes)

• 37%

  No

  (85 votes)

• 5%

  Maybe

  (12 votes)

• 43%

  Dumbest Question Ever

  (98 votes)

226 votes total Vote Now

For complete UFC Vegas 104 results, coverage and highlights click HERE.