LAS VEGAS – Keep calm and fight on.
That’s Roman Dolidze’s mindset as he enters his UFC Fight Night 254 (ESPN+) main event Saturday vs. Marvin Vettori at the UFC Apex. The key to victory, as Dolidze (14-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) sees it, is to not let emotions factor into his decision making.
“He hasn’t fought in a long time,” Dolidze told reporters, including MMA Junkie, during a news conference Wednesday. “Everybody says maybe it’s bad for him, he hasn’t fought in so long. But I never think about the fights from this point of view. I just understand that we are all changing, evolving. Maybe he has time to change something in his game.
“But anyway, I still think this fight can be the same, how he was working and what he was doing with me. Because I have power. He knows. Everybody knows I’m powerful. Everybody knows my ground game and grappling. That’s why it’s always hard to find keys with me. But I still think that I need to be more calm and control my anger, and that’s the key to win this fight.”
The fight vs. Vettori (19-7-1 MMA, 9-5-1 UFC) will be a rematch, which presents an opportunity for Dolidze to avenge a March 2023 unanimous decision loss. Two years have passed since then and Dolidze sees both similarities and differences in himself and Vettori.
“A lot of people think I’ve been a professional athlete for so long,” Doldize said. “I’m a top fighter (for) probably three years. But they don’t understand I started when I was 28 and I’m still learning something. I’m still finding something in my game. Even from fight to fight, I understand more things, how they need to be done. It is what it is. Even now, I’m 36 years old. I still can learn something. I still do. I still improve something during training. I’m very happy with my career.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 254.
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