Vettori dominates Holland to move to No. 3 at middleweight

UFC middleweight Marvin Vettori throws a punch. (Jeff Chiu/AP)

Marvin Vettori extended his active winning streak to five in a row with a five-round unanimous decision win over Kevin Holland in a middleweight main event bout.

The win resulted in Vettori rising three spots to No. 3 in the UFC’s 185-pound weight class and the Italian called for a fight with reigning 185-pound champion Israel Adesanya.

Vettori’s lone loss since 2016 was a three-round split decision to Adesanya when the two met as ascending stars.

Adesanya is coming off a loss to light-heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz in March and it’s unclear who he’ll defend his middleweight belt against next.

An April 16 main event between former champ Robert Whittaker and No. 8-ranked Kelvin Gastelum could have title implications if Whittaker emerges victorious. Adesanya beat Whittaker in 2019 to become champion and Whittaker hasn’t lost again since.

Vettori was originally scheduled to face Darren Till, however Till sustained a broken collarbone during a training drill and was forced to withdraw from the event.

Till took to Twitter where he noted he wasn’t overly impressed by Vettori’s win.

“It wasn’t the prettiest win but a wins (sic) a win and it means so much to him you can see,” Till wrote. “That fight told me he knew he couldn’t strike with me so he was going to try take me down … Even if he were to succeed in takedowns he wouldn’t of (sic) been able to keep me. I would of (sic) hurt this man for five rounds on the feet. … Whatever happens for Marvin next good luck. I’m sure we’ll meet soon.”

Holland agreed to the fight just nine days prior to the event and only three weeks after a similar five-round unanimous decision loss to Derek Brunson. Holland’s two-fight losing streak in 2021 comes after the 28-year-old went 5-0 in 2020.

Arnold Allen came out ahead on the judges’ scorecards in his featherweight co-main event against Sodiq Yusuff. Allen (17-1) is now 8-0 in the UFC and the No. 8-ranked fighter at 145 pounds. This was the first UFC loss for Yusuff (11-2) who is ranked No. 12 in the division.

Julian Marquez vs. Sam Alvey was named Fight of the Night, while Mackenzie Dern and Mateusz Gamrot both took home Performance of the Night bonuses for their respective stoppage wins.

Below are the complete results from the event.

MAIN CARD
-- Marvin Vettori def. Kevin Holland by unanimous decision
-- Arnold Allen def. Sodiq Yusuff by unanimous decision
-- Julian Marquez def. Sam Alvey by technical submission (rear-naked choke)
-- Mackenzie Dern def. Nina Ansaroff by submission (armbar)
-- Daniel Rodriguez def. Mike Perry by unanimous decision

PRELIMINARY CARD
-- Joe Solecki def. Jim Miller by unanimous decision
-- Mateusz Gamrot def. Scott Holtzman by knockout
-- John Makdessi def. Ignacio Bahamondes by split decision
-- Jarjis Danho def. Yorgan de Castro by knockout
-- Jack Shore def. Hunter Azure by split decision
-- Luis Saldana def. Jordan Griffin by unanimous decision
-- Da Un Jung def. William Knight by unanimous decision
-- Impa Kasanganay def. Sasha Palatnikov by submission (rear-naked choke)

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