Roman Dolidze 'being realistic' with Israel Adesanya, Robert Whittaker callouts after UFC Fight Night 254

LAS VEGAS – Roman Dolidze has set his sights on a pair of former champions after emerging from the UFC Fight Night 254 main event with his hand raised.

Dolidze (14-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) avenged a key career loss on Saturday when he outworked Marvin Vettori (19-7-1 MMA, 9-5-1 UFC) to a unanimous decision in their middleweight rematch at the UFC Apex. In the octagon, the Georgian said he is looking for a top five fight next, and called out ex-titleholders Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker.

After taking some time to digest the result, Dolidze went backstage to speak to reporters and doubled down on the callouts, explaining that he feels both matchups are logical given the state of the 185-pound division.

“Why not? All these guys need opponents,” Dolidze told MMA Junkie and other media members. “They need to find somebody. They need to have some opponent. I don’t care if it will be somebody else from top five, I’m also ready. I don’t really care much. But I said more realistic fights because both of them lost. That’s why I said I don’t really care who it will be from the top five.

“(I’m) being realistic of who is ready and who needs opponent. There are some guys who really deserve to fight for title, like Caio (Borralho), like (Nassourdine) Imavov, also. There are a couple guys – good guys, and they are waiting and in line. If they will give me these guys, I’m ready. But there are most realistic fights and that’s why I said those names.”

Adesanya (24-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) is currently sitting on a three-fight losing skid with defeats to Sean Strickland, Dricus Du Plessis and most recently, a second-round knockout vs. Imavov in February. Whittaker (26-8 MMA, 17-6 UFC), meanwhile, is looking to bounce back from a 2024 Submission of the Year loss to Khamzat Chimaev in October.

Either fight coming to fruition would be a massive opportunity for Dolidze to put a signature win on his resume, but if he was given a choice, thinks Adesanya brings more value to his resume.

“Both of these guys have good names,” Dolidze said. “More important for me is the name. Of course Adesanya was more on the top and it would be better for me as a name to fight Adesanya, but Whittaker also was champion. He’s very good fighter. It’s not about personality or something. It’s all about name and quality of opponent. Adesanya will of course be better if we are talking about the more loud name.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 254.