The UFC has announced that former middleweight title challengers Marvin Vettori and Jared Cannonier will meet in a five round fight night headliner on June 17.
The UFC is beginning to build their early summer schedule and has announced a middleweight headliner between former title challengers Marvin Vettori and Jared Cannonier will headline their Fight Night event on June 17. Company President Dana White announced the bout along with a slew of other fights on social media Thursday afternoon.
All main events, ALL official!! @DanaWhite just confirmed the following 5-round matchups going down this summer 🔥 pic.twitter.com/7XtZEYxZXm
— UFC (@ufc) April 21, 2023
Vettori (19-5-1) enters the bout following a victory over Roman Dolidze last March in a fight where he held off a rising contender. “The Italian Dream” has alternated wins-and-losses in his last four fights in beating Dolidze and former title challenger Paulo Costa but dropped decisions to former champion Robert Whittaker and current title holder Israel Adesanya. At 29 years-old, Vettori looks to continue to make his case as one of the top middleweights in the world today as he looks to knock off another highly ranked foe and keep himself in pursuit of the championship.
Cannonier (16-6) is also looking to keep himself in the title hunt following a close decision victory in his bout with fellow contender Sean Strickland last December. “The Killa Gorilla” has competed as high as heavyweight in the UFC but has found his stride as a middleweight in defeating the likes of Jack Hermansson, Kelvin Gastelum, and Derek Brunson over the past several years. With a loss to Adesanya himself last July, Cannonier now also looks to assert his standing as the division as the weight class looks to find the next title challenger.
The winner of the bout is expected to have another high profile contest in the latter part of the year as other middleweight headliners were announced in Sean Strickland vs Abus Magomedov and Jack Hermansson vs Brendan Allen. Depending on the outcome of all three bouts and surveying the division, it is expected that the winner of Vettori and Cannonier will take on the winner of one of the other two middleweight headliners in June.
The bout is scheduled to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on June 17.
