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UFC has announced that a pair of middleweights will run back a fight from UFC 219. Marvin Vettori and Omari Akhmedov on that December night in 2017 fought to a majority draw.
Three years and two weeks later, the duo will throw down once again. Right after their first matchup, Marvin Vettori fought a new UFC talent named Israel Adesanya. And the future middleweight champion won a split decision that night. Since then "The Italian Dream" has won three in a row.
Omari Akhmedov on the other hand since that draw had his own three-fight winning streak. Which was then ended by Chris Weidman in his return to the 185-pound division last month.
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Marvin Vettori draws Omari Akhmedov once again
Marvin Vettori since that loss to Adesanya has called for a rematch with him. But the champion has way bigger fish on his plate right now to deal with. He also has called out other ranked middleweights like Darren Till and Kelvin Gastelum in the past on social media to no avail.
The 13th and 14th ranked fighters will both need to slowly work their ways back up the rankings if they want to deal with the deep end. Vettori hinted on twitter something was up:
With UFC President Dana White saying that Khamzat Chimaev would next face a ranked opponent in the main event, that could have been the assumption. But it was MMA Junkie to break the news that Marvin Vettori's fight would be the rematch with the 32-year-old Dagestani fighter.
The recently turned 27 years old Vettori, in his 1st round submission win over Karl Roberson, ended a streak of going to the judge's scorecards 6 straight times. Dating back to 2016, Akhmedov has gone to the cards 7 straight times. Despite that, he is an overall well-rounded dangerous fighter.
The December 12th card is believed to be back at The Apex in Las Vegas. And it has two huge titles on top of the card. Kamaru Usman finally faces Dominance MMA stablemate Gilbert Burns in his 3rd title defense. And it also marks the return of soon to be mother Amanda Nunes, as she goes back up to 145 to defend against Megan Anderson. "The Lioness" is on the hunt for her 12th straight win. As of now the 3rd fight on the card is a risky fight for 6th ranked strawweight Carla Esparza, as she takes on 12th ranked Amanda Ribas.
