After more than a year out of action, Marvin Vettori seemed excited about making his return to the Octagon. However, things didn’t quite go the way he wanted. ‘The Italian Dream’ succumbed to a unanimous decision loss to Roman Dolidze, who made some bold callouts after defeating his nemesis and avenging the loss he suffered in his previous encounter with Vettori back in 2023 at UFC 286.

Roman Dolidze, following his win, claimed to “deserve” a top 5 fight, and with three wins in a row, he may not be wrong. Guess what? He called out a duo of former middleweight champions – Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker.

“There are two realistic fights for me. It’s Whittaker or Adesanya. Let’s go. Just give me date,” Roman Dolidze stated in his post-fight Octagon interview. What was surprising was that the Georgian fighter assured Dana White that he’d be able to get back inside the Octagon again in less than a week, which was pretty surprising to say the least.

“And he [Dana White] know I can fight in five days. Just give a little bit time to make weight,” Roman Dolidze added. His output during the fight suggested as much. Vettori was landing more in volume (this was his fourth straight fight with more than 100 significant strikes) but Dolidze’s right hook was on the money for the most part of the fight. ‘The Caucasian’ was landing straights, hooks and kicks with tremendous power.

The Georgian star earned praise from some of his peers for the impressive win over Marvin Vettori. In fact, it was a couple of former champions who shared kind words for Roman Dolidze. here’s what they had to say.

Roman Dolidze earns praise from former UFC champions

The 36-year-old middleweight veteran impressed former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling with his win over Marvin Vettori, who seemed over the moon with Roman Dolidze’s performance. “Roman!!!! Let’s go,” ‘Funk Master’ wrote on X. Sterling’s former rival and former double champion Henry Cejudo also chimed in to express his thoughts about the fight. ‘Triple C’ seemed highly impressed with Roman Dolidze because, although it was a decision win.

Henry Cejudo saw some good signs with his performance over the former middleweight title contender, Marvin Vettori. Not only does the Olympic winner claim that the Georgian star edged past his opponent with points, but he also claimed to have witnessed Dolidze making major ‘improvements compared to his previous UFC outing, hoping to see him break into the top 10. “48-47 Dolidze. Great display of improvement and resilience by Roman Dolidze. Top 10,” Cejudo tweeted following the Georgian native’s win.

Well, it doesn’t seem like Roman Dolidze made a bad callout with two potential opponents in sight. Do you think he stands a chance against top stars like Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.