It’s been ten days since top-10-ranked UFC Middleweight Roman Dolidze avenged his past loss, securing a unanimous decision victory over former title challenger Marvin Vettori at UFC Vegas 104 inside the UFC Apex—marking his first UFC main event win (watch highlights).
Dolidze wasted no time calling out Israel Adesanya or Robert Whittaker for his next fight, only to face a sharp rebuke from Whittaker days later.
“I’m trying to fight a top-five guy, dude. Join the queue,” Whittaker said on his podcast. “I watched a round-and-a-half and was like, ‘Dude, I have nothing to gain from this,’ and I went back to playing Monster Hunter Wilds.”
“Bro, it was just like the exact same as their first fight. They’re still at the same pub,” Whittaker added. “They’re just like, ‘Ah, it’s you.’ And then they just started punching on again. It’s the exact same thing. I reckon they should run it back to break the trilogy, to get some proper closure on whatever reason they’re having a brawl.”
Dolidze, however, didn’t take kindly to the dismissal.
“This is a talking guy who got knocked out a couple of times and got destroyed in his last fight. It’s funny to me to listen to a guy like that,” Dolidze said recently. “Yes, I will always respect my opponents and fighters. He’s a great fighter and was a great champion, but listen, he’s speaking too loud. You have to prove that you’re so tough.”
“If you’re on your downfall, it doesn’t mean anything. If you’re scared to say normal words and speak normally—he’s not a person whose words I can take seriously,” Dolidze added. “It’s too loud for him to speak like that. We already saw what he’s capable of doing and how many times he was stopped and tapped.”
“Me and Vettori are two guys who have never been stopped before… so it’s just funny to me,” Dolidze concluded.
If the Georgian is trying to goad Whittaker into a fight, he’ll need more than words—Whittaker has options like Sean Strickland or Anthony Hernandez on the table.
Still, it was a solid effort.
Dolidze rides a three-fight win streak, with victories over Vettori, Kevin Holland, and Anthony Smith.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
