Robert Whittaker vs. Marvin Vettori Targeted for Big UFC 275 in June

Overtime Heroics Editorial

569 days ago

Robert Whittaker vs. Marvin Vettori is expected to take place in June.

First reported by Ariel Helwani, former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker will take on one-time title challenger Marvin Vettori at UFC 275 on June 11. No location or venue has been officially announced, though Singapore is heavily rumored to host the event.

While Helwani confirmed that the phone is “very close,” but not a done deal as of yet, Whittaker stated that his upcoming bout was “pretty confirmed” while appearing on The MMA Hour.

Robert Whittaker x Marvin Vettori at UFC 275 on June 11 isn’t a done deal just yet, but it’s “very close,” I’m told.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) March 10, 2022

Robert Whittaker (23-6-0, 14-4-0 UFC) entered the UFC going 2-2 before putting together seven straight wins and an opportunity to become the interim middleweight champion at UFC 213. Whittaker defeated Yoel Romero to become the first Australian and New Zealand born fighter to win UFC gold. Five months later, the undisputed middleweight champion, Georges St.-Pierre, would vacate his title due to illness. Whittaker was promoted to undisputed champion shortly after.

Whittaker would drop the title in his first official defense against current middleweight king Israel Adesanya at UFC 243. ‘The Reaper’ bounced back with three straight wins against Darren TIll, Jared Cannonier and Kelvin Gastelum. This earned him a rematch with the ‘Last Stylebender’ at UFC 271. Whittaker would go the distance this time, but came up short on the judges scorecards, though many in the MMA community believe that Whittaker did enough to recapture UFC gold.

Marvin Vettori (18-4-1, 8-3-0 UFC) has also faced and fallen to Israel Adesanya on two separate occasions. Their first meeting in 2018 went to Adesanya in a tightly contested split decision. Over the next three years, ‘The Italian Dream’ would rack up five straight wins against Cezar Ferreira, Andrew Sanchez, Karl Roberson, Jack Hermansson and Kevin Holland to earn a shot at the middleweight title, now held by Adesanya.

‘Stylebender’ would go on to win the fight decisively, but it didn’t take long for Vettori to bounce back by defeating former title challenger Paulo Costa via unanimous decision in October. A win over the #1 ranked Whittaker could put Vettori in position to challenge for a UFC title once again.

Robert Whittaker vs. Marvin Vettori will add to an already highly anticipated pay-per-view event this summer.