Following his impressive victory over Marvin Vettori in the main event at UFC Vegas 104 on Saturday night, Roman Dolidze is looking upward in the UFC middleweight rankings when it comes to choosing his next opponent.
Dolidze (15-3 MMA. 9-3 UFC) emerged victorious on the judge's scorecards after 5 rounds to avenge his 2023 loss to Vettori (19-7-1, 9-6-1 UFC) a win which will likely see "The Caucasian" break into the top 10 at 185 pounds when the rankings are updated this week.
Now on a 3-fight winning streak, the Georgian is beginning to gather some momentum and while speaking at the post-fight press conference about beating Vettori, the names of two former middleweight champions who sit above him in the rankings came up: Robert Whittaker (26-8 MMA, 17-6 UFC) and Israel Adesanya (24-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC).
"Both of these guys have good names", Dolidze responded to a reporter who had asked which of the former title-holders he would prefer to fight, if given the opportunity. "More important for me, the name. Of course, Adesanya maybe was more on the top, and it would be better for me for my name to fight Adesanya.
"But Whittaker also was champion. He's well-skilled, a very good fighter. It's not about, like, about personality or something. It's all about name and quality of opponent. And Adesanya will, of course, will be better if we're telling about higher, more loud name, of course".
Adesanya won the middleweight title by dethroning Whittaker back in 2019 before going to rule the division for almost 5 years. He has struggled of late, losing 3 fights on the bounce to Sean Strickland, Dricus Du Plessis and Nassordine Imavov.
When asked which of the two former champions he preferred to watch compete in the Octagon, Dolidze found the decision an easy one to make.
"Of course, Adesanya", he responded emphatically. "He's more striker, very fast, dangerous. And Adesanya will be better, probably".
