What’s Next For Marvin Vettori?

UFC Vegas 75 blew the roof off UFC Apex last Saturday night (June 17, 2023) in Las Vegas, Nevada, leaving several fighters feeling the post-fight blues. Among them was Joaquim Silva, who was stopped by Arman Tsarukyan via strikes in the third round of their co-main event bout (see it here).

And Nikolas Motta, who was knocked into next week by Manuel Torres and his laser-like elbow strike that earned him “Performance of the Night” honors. But which fighters is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show?

Marvin Vettori.

Coming into his headlining bout against Jared Cannonir, Vettori was hoping to make a statement in order to get back into the championship conversation and perhaps lock down a trilogy fight against Israel Adesanya. “The Italian Dream,” after all, is currently ranked No. 3 in the division and a big showing would’ve have given him great bargaining chips.

But after starting off great in the first round, Vettori went on to lose the final two and eventually dropped a unanimous decision to “Killa Gorilla,” continuing his streak of alternating wins and losses since 2021. Inconsistency simply won’t get it done for Vettori — or any fighter, for that matter — if he wants to keep moving up and linger in the championship conversation.

He has all of the talent in the world, he just needs to put it together more consistently and win the big fights when they matter most. That is obviously easier said than done, but “The Italian Dream” has shown he can do it, starting his UFC career at 7-2-1. Once a title contender, always a threat, and Vettori will be just fine after his latest defeat.

As far was what could be next for the Italian star, perhaps a showdown against Derek Brunson is in order. Brunson is currently ranked No. 8 in the Middleweight division and is riding a two fight losing streak.

He was last seen losing to Dricus du Plessis via second round technical knockout (TKO) at UFC 285 this past March. Prior to that, Brunson was stopped by the aforementioned Jared Cannonier, also via second-round TKO.

For as long as each man has been fighting inside the Octagon they have yet to cross paths, and now is as good a time as any. Brunson is in dire need of a win and one over Vettori will give him a much-needed boost and shot of confidence to keep moving forward at 185 pounds.

As for Vettori, if his win-loss pattern since 2021 tells us anything is that he is due for a win, but it doesn’t always work out that perfectly obviously. But that’s why they fights and if we’re looking at the current lay of the land at Middleweight, this is the only fight that makes sense for both men.

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For complete UFC Vegas 75: “Cannonier vs. Vettori” results and play-by-play, click HERE!