Roman Dolidze eyeing up another rematch following UFC Vegas 104 as he looks to enter title contention… 'I wasn't in shape'

03/11/2025 11:04 AM

Roman Dolidze is hoping 2025 will be a year of avenging losses with his first chance coming this Saturday.

This coming Saturday, Roman Dolidze takes on Marvin Vettori in the UFC Vegas 104 main event, looking to exact revenge on ‘The Italian Dream’ for their first clash at UFC 286 in 2023.

Last time out at UFC 307, Dolidze scored a bizarre win over Kevin Holland, keeping his place in the top 15 of the middleweight division. Vettori on the other hand has only fought once since their first fight and has been inactive since June, 2023.

READ MORE:Roman Dolidze explains why he didn't want to fight before launching MMA career at 28

Roman Dolidze wants another rematch following UFC Vegas 104

Ahead of his rematch against ‘The Italian Dream’, Dolidze believes he could enter title contention with a win, stating that the middleweight division is in a ‘new era’.

Dricus Du Plessis currently reigns over the middleweight division with his next title defense likely coming against Khamzat Chimaev. Dolidze told Bloody Elbow that he thinks Chimaev ‘could be in trouble’ if he doesn’t finish the fight in the opening rounds.

Someone who may feel hard done by to miss out on the next title shot, is Nassourdine Imavov. ‘The Russian Sniper’ scored the biggest win of his career thus far last time out, when he knocked out Israel Adesanya.

With him likely having to wait for the culmination of Du Plessis vs Chimaev, Dolidze believes that a rematch against Imavov could open up if he beats Vettori this weekend.

“He is a great fighter, very good, high level technique, very good high level striker and there are other reasons why I wasn’t in the shape I was supposed to be to fight,” Dolidze told Bloody Elbow.

“I never try to find excuses, he won that fight, 100% but I want to be in better shape and I want to prove I can do this, after this (Vettori) fight that I can be much, much better and can use all the skills I have.

“One of the biggest problems of mine is that I don’t use my best sides, I don’t use my grappling sometimes… I think sometimes, I need to use it,” he continued.

The state of the middleweight division

The top of the middleweight division is seemingly going through somewhat of a transitional period, with the likes of Israel Adesanya, Robert Whittaker, and Sean Strickland all coming off losses and all occupying spots in the top five.

Outside of those big names, the likes of Caio Borralho and the aforementioned, Imavov, are waiting in the wings to replace the old guard in the division.

And with that, Dolidze is hoping that with a win over Vettori, he can also put himself into title contention at 185lbs.