Roman Dolidze didn’t anticipate Anthony Hernandez to be his subsequent opponent, however he actually feels prepared for it.
Dolidze faces Hernandez in the principle occasion of UFC Vegas 109 this Saturday on the UFC APEX. Following his victory over Marvin Vettori at UFC Vegas 104 in March, Dolidze known as for a combat with former champion Robert Whittaker.
In keeping with Dolidze, the UFC was fascinated about making that combat occur, however as an alternative, Whittaker was booked to headline UFC Abu Dhabi in July, the place he misplaced a cut up determination to Reinier de Ridder. Dolidze ended up getting “Fluffy” as an alternative.
“No response, however my ideas are like, MMA drama, you recognize?,” Dolidze instructed MMA Combating. “And it’s humorous for me as a result of we have now, most likely, completely different understanding of what’s happening. Some guys are second Conor McGregors, [trying] to say like loud stuff, however typically, I don’t perceive them.
“However they inform me that I’ll combat him. [For] two months, they had been telling me that I’ll combat Whittaker. And after they introduced that Whittaker is combating de Ridder, they gave me Fluffy. It occurred like that.”
Hernandez has gained his previous seven bouts and confirmed to be a troublesome opponent, with a cardio-heavy fashion that gives issues to all of his opponents. The 31-year-old just lately earned a call win over Brendan Allen at UFC Seattle in February.
After selecting up wins over Kevin Holland, and previous title challengers Vettori and Anthony Smith, Dolidze was a bit of shocked Hernandez was the identify on the opposite aspect of the contract. To be truthful, Dolidze feels his opponent might have deserved higher as nicely.
“I mentioned that I deserve a greater opponent, that this isn’t a combat what I wished — the combat with Fluffy,” Dolidze mentioned. “However who cares? I’ll nonetheless combat. I’ll nonetheless win, and I’ll simply make them give me combat that I deserve. …
“I believe that UFC is, to start with, enterprise. UFC is, to start with, a present they usually have their very own targets and their very own means tips on how to obtain what they wanna do. And now, it’s a state of affairs when lots of guys are up and coming, and lots of good fighters[are] there and [it’s] a bit of bit [of a] mess. A number of issues happening there. And we each, I believe, even my opponent Fluffy, we each deserve higher-ranked opponents, however in the long run, we’re combating one another.
“However I believe every thing is truthful. In case you are nonetheless profitable, they are going to don’t have any they don’t have any different possibility to provide you title [shot]. That’s all.”
The middleweight division is in a captivating place proper now. De Ridder’s huge win places him in a possible greater spot subsequent, Dricus du Plessis is getting set to defend his title towards Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 319 later this month, and Nassourdine Imavov faces Caio Borralho in an enormous important occasion bout at UFC Paris.
With a win over Hernandez, Dolidze feels a title eliminator must be subsequent.
“Anthony is completely different,” Dolidze defined. “Anthony is attention-grabbing fighter. I believe he’s not [great] in [any one thing]. He’s not tremendous striker, or he’s not tremendous grappler, or he’s not tremendous wrestler, however he’s tremendous cardio man, like Mario, you recognize? Like, he’s at all times like going.
“And he’s a very good fighter and really attention-grabbing. Like I mentioned, he’s not tremendous grappler, however he may make you drained, and he’s a very good grappler once you’re drained and you may’t do nothing. He has wins over good grapplers, high-level grapplers. He was dropping combat, however when he makes them drained, he’s doing no matter he wish to do. That’s why it’s an attention-grabbing combat, and he’s a very good fighter, I believe so. …
“It is going to be an attention-grabbing combat,” Dolidze continues. “I don’t know what he’ll supply me, however for something, I’m prepared, particularly along with his good aspect. He likes to go on the bottom, let’s go on the bottom. Let’s see [who is] higher.
“And if you happen to’re speaking the place I will probably be after this combat, after this win, I believe he has a seven-fight win streak. That’s good. And when I’ll win over him, will put me greater [in the rankings], and I believe I will probably be one step till title combat. Yet another combat, and title shot.”
