Why UFC 286 fight with Roman Dolidze is 'a bit personal' for Marvin Vettori

LONDON – Marvin Vettori was surprised former training partner Roman Dolidze was quick to accept a fight against 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 main card opener at The O2 in London. The main 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 past September, but that’s not the only thing on his mind.

“This fight is personal for me in a sense that I’ve never had two losses in a row, and this is not going to be the case (this week),” Vettori said at Wednesday’s UFC 286 media day. “I can’t wait to go out and put on a performance.

“It is a bit personal with Roman, too, in a sense because we actually trained together before and stuff and we have some good friends in common. He didn’t think twice when accepting the fight.”

The two trained together at Kings MMA, and Vettori implied he used to get the better of Dolidze during their sessions.

“They went well for me, I believe, but I’m the first to say that training ain’t a fight,” Vettori said. “But still, for sure they went well.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 286.