If things got too personal between middleweights Karl Roberson and Marvin Vettori in the past, then Roberson, for one, feels it’s all on his opponent’s side.
The pair are the co-main event at UFC on ESPN 10 this weekend. That’s after originally being scheduled for UFC Jacksonville last month. Roberson missed weight for the fight, and was later forced off the card for health reasons. Directly related to his weight cut. A situation that infuriated Vettori, leading to a filmed confrontation in a hotel lobby.
A month later, and the fight is back on. With a much higher profile as a result of the bad blood that ensued. Roberson, however, told media outlets including Cageside Press on Thursday that things never got too personal. “Maybe on his side. It was never personal on my side. I could care less how he feels or what he thinks.”
Roberson (9-2) is heading into the fight this weekend with a calm demeanor. “Emotions get you in trouble. Emotions put you in bad positions,” he told us at Thursday’s media day. “A calm mind is a dangerous mind. A calm body is a dangerous body.”
Still, Roberson has his opinions on Vettori. And he still believes the hotel confrontation last month was a setup. “It was definitely a setup. Like if you watched the video. The dude’s camera was coming open before the elevator even opened. How did he know that was happening? It’s not making any sense. That was from his team,” Roberson stated. “Again. How did he even know I was coming down elevator. Again, setup. It’s clear.”
It’s not like anything he’s ever experienced in his career, either. “I don’t really deal with childish people. I don’t really run into them that much. So this is the first time for me,” Roberson said, asked if he’d ever encountered such a reaction from an opponent.
As to what happened with his weight cut in Jacksonville, Roberson was blunt. “Everything went wrong last weight cut. Body shut down, mind shut down, passed out, got sent to the hospital, got pulled from the fight,” he said. And so he’s made some important changes this time around. “This one I’ve got a nutritionist around me, got doctors around me to make sure everything’s right, who make sure my levels stay right. Make sure I’m not overdoing it. Make sure I’m not cutting too much at once.”
With luck, this one will finally be settled inside the octagon this weekend.
UFC on ESPN 10 takes place this Saturday, June 13 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, NV. The card airs live on ESPN and ESPN+ (TSN in Canada).
