A middleweight rematch saw Roman Dolidze outlast Marvin Vettori by unanimous decision in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
Dolidze (15-3 MMA) took the cards 49-46, 49-46, 49-46 as both men kept the fight standing throughout the entire duration, with Dolidze picking up the pace on the former UFC middleweight title challenger in Vettori (19-7-1 MMA) in the latter rounds, exacting revenge from their March 2023 encounter at UFC 286.
Dolidze, a winner of three straight, already knows who he’d want as his next opponent. Both are former champions with their careers at crossroads points at middleweight.
“It was a big and important test for me,” Dolidze said about the rematch with Vettori in his post-fight interview. “Five rounds. Heart. (Fighting) at a high level. I’m with killers, monsters. I need to be ready for anyone, anything that can happen, and this fight was very important for me.”
Both of Dolidze’s targeted opponents remain in the top five, as he is eying that caliber of fighter moving forward.
“I want a top-five fight – 100 percent,” Dolidze said. “There are two realistic fights for me. It’s (Robert) Whittaker or (Israel) Adesanya. Let’s go. Just give me a date … nothing more.”
The co-main event saw Chidi Njokuani pick up a second-round TKO over 16-fight UFC veteran Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos. The win marks Njokuani’s (25-10 MMA) third since moving to welterweight, as he began his UFC stint 1-3 at middleweight. Dos Santos (25-9-1 MMA) has lost two out of his last three fights.
Alexander Hernandez picked up a unanimous decision over Kurt Holobaugh, 30-27, 29-28, 29-28 in a lightweight bout. Hernandez (16-8 MMA) used his wrestling to stifle Holobaugh’s (22-9 MMA) striking attack to earn his second consecutive win while Holobaugh is just 2-2 in his last four outings, which included winning “The Ultimate Fighter” in August 2023.
Multiple submission attempts finally paid off for bantamweight Da’Mon Blackshear as he secured a kimura victory against Cody Gibson in Round 2. For the first time in nearly 15 years, according to the broadcast, Blackshear and Light heavyweight Brendson Ribeiro’s back-to-back kimura submission wins were the first since the same occurred at UFC 123 in November 2010.
Blackshear (16-7-1 MMA) extended his winning streak to two. Meanwhile, Gibson (21-11 MMA) is just 2-3 in his second UFC stint since returning in August 2023.
Ribeiro halted Diyar Nurgozhay’s undefeated run with a second-round kimura submission finish after a slow start. Ribieiro (17-7 MMA) has won two straight to even his UFC record through four appearances, while Nurgozhay (10-1 MMA) was making his UFC debut following a second-round head-kick stoppage of Bartosz Szewczyk during Dana White’s Contender Series last fall.
The main card of UFC Vegas 104 opened emphatically as 23-year-old featherweight Kevin Vallejos won his fourth straight fight, finishing Choi Seung-woo at 3:09 of the opening round via TKO. Vallejos (15-1 MMA) handed Seung-woo (11-8 MMA) his fifth loss in his last six fights, as he has not entered the win column since August 2023.
–Field Level Media
