Marvin Vettori thinks it’s only a matter of time before Khamzat Chimaev meets someone who can’t be bullied.
“Bolts” put on one of the most dominant performances in UFC title fight history, easily defeating Doricas du Plessis in August to win the undisputed middleweight world title and improve his record to a perfect 15-0.
So far, Chimaev has looked nearly perfect in his UFC matches, aside from some cardio issues against Kamaru Usman, but that didn’t matter against DDP.
But despite this, Vettori remains convinced that Chimaev’s one-note game plan will ultimately fail.
“He ragdolled him for about five rounds and he couldn’t get back up,” Vettori told Helen Yee when discussing Chimaev’s performance against du Plessis. “I think everyone has…He’s a great wrestler. He doubled down on wrestling. You can see in his training, he trained with all the best wrestlers in Chechnya and stuff like that. So he definitely doubled up on wrestling.”
“But I still think a lot of people think, right now, there are a lot of top-10, top-five grapplers in my division, so they’re going to give him problems. If you’re exposed to the fact that you can’t and you didn’t really have the game to stand up, I know some of these guys definitely know how to… He’s going to have to expend more energy, you know?”
Vettori, who has come up short in his last three fights, has some work to do before he gets another chance at the 185-pound crown.
Marvin Vettori needs a win if he wants to challenge Khamzat Chimaev
“Italian Dream” will look to get back to winning ways on Dec. 6 at UFC 223, featuring two can’t-miss title fights and a bout between Vettori and Brazilian standout Bruno Ferreira.
Check out the current lineup for UFC 323 below.
UFC 323 PPV main card on ESPN+ PPV (10 p.m. ET):
Merab Dvalishvili (c) vs. Petr Yan – UFC Bantamweight Championship
Alexandre Pantoja (c) vs. Joshua Vann – UFC Flyweight Championship
Henry Cejudo vs. Peyton Talbot
Jan Blachowicz vs. Bogdan Guskov
Brandon Moreno vs. Tatsuro Taira
UFC 323 Preliminary Card ESPN, ESPN+ (8 p.m. ET):
Marvin Vettori vs. Bruno Ferreira
Grant Dawson vs. Manuel Torres
Mansour Abdul-Malik vs. Antonio Trocoli
Chris Duncan vs. Terrence McKinney
Macy Barber vs. Karine Silva
Nazim Sadikhov vs. Fares Giam
Cards are subject to change.