According to former UFC middleweight title challenger Marvin Vettori, something good came out of his loss this past weekend.
Vettori returned to action for the first time in almost two years, running it back with Roman Dolidze in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night main event at the Apex.
While the Georgian marked the last man Vettori has beaten, the Italian was unable to repeat his 2023 feat in London when they squared off in a rematch, instead falling to a convincing decision defeat.
Having now lost three of his last four, Vettori is firmly out of the championship conversation at 185 pounds. But although that will no doubt be a disappointment for him, it isn’t all negative.
In a recent social media post, “The Italian Dream” claimed his latest setback has “sparked the fire again.”
Vettori will now look to prove as much when he makes the walk again, and he seemingly has a name in mind for his second outing of 2025.
“Saturday sparked the fire again, 21 months out was a bit,” Marvin Vettori wrote on X. “Angry Vettori might be back lol. Time to win some fights. Allen before I see you outside, what you doing next? Who is gonna retire who?”
Brendan Allen also started this year on the wrong foot, having fallen to a two-fight losing skid courtesy of Anthony Hernandez in Seattle last month.
After consecutive losses to Nassourdine Imavov and “Fluffy,” Allen sits one place below Vettori in the UFC middleweight rankings at #11.
