HUGE ANNOUNCEMENTS JUST DROPPED! 🚨@DanaWhite just confirmed SIX big fights going down this summer and more 👀 pic.twitter.com/2trJujb3kB
— UFC (@ufc) April 21, 2023
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is turning to two reliable middleweight contenders to draw eyeballs this June.
After losing his bid for Adesanya’s belt in June 2021, Vettori has seen an up-and-down schedule. In a bizarre scene that involved an unexpected change in weight class, Vettori bounced back from his loss to “The Last Stylebender” by topping Paulo Costa on the scorecards at 205 pounds. The Italian middleweight dropped back down to his usual weight class nearly one year later, and ultimately fell short to former champ Robert Whittaker. In March, “The Italian Dream” placed himself back in the win column by staving off hard-charging Georgian Roman Dolidze. Vettori has gone to the judges in his last six fights, and 12 of his last 13 encounters overall.
Former heavyweight Cannonier has experienced the greatest success in his career thus far at 185 pounds. Only dropping decisions to Whittaker and Adesanya across the way, Cannoier has beaten the likes of Anderson Silva, Derek Brunson and most recently, Sean Strickland. The fighter with a stoppage rate of exactly 75% has gone the distance in four of five, with a lone victory over Derek Brunson bookended by multiple five-round verdicts in his way and against him. “The Killa Gorilla” is one of a small number of fighters to ever grace the Octagon that have earned knockouts across three weight divisions.