Marvin Vettori will fight Ismail Naurdiev at UFC Fight Night 280 in Baku, Azerbaijan on June 27th.
The 32-year-old Vettori is a former middleweight title contender, but he’s struggled to fight his way out of a slump in form over the past five years, with just two wins in his last eight fights.
He is currently in the midst of four losses in a row, having suffered unanimous decision losses to Jared Cannonier, Roman Dolidze, Brendan Allen and most recently Brunno Ferreira, so a win in his next Octagon appearance is an absolute must.
To do so he’ll have to get the better of the 29-year-old Naurdiev, who has gone 2-1 since joining the UFC in 2024.
Naurdiev arrived in the Octagon with a 23-7 career record and defeated Bruno Silva in his UFC debut, but then lost to Jun-Yong Park by unanimous decision. He’s got back to winning ways since though with an 86 second KO victory against Ryan Loder last time out.
Vettori vs. Naurdiev joins a UFC Fight Night 280 event that will be headlined by Rafael Fiziev vs. Manuel Torres, alongside other bouts like Shara Magomedov vs. Michel Pereira, Asu Almabayev vs. Charles Johnson and Ikram Aliskerov vs. Brunno Ferreira.
