UFC to book Robert Whittaker vs. Marvin Vettori for UFC 275

The stagnation of the UFC middleweight division is best illustrated by the fact that the promotion is looking to book a top contender fight between two fighters who have each lost to the current champion twice.

While not yet officially announced by the UFC, Ariel Helwani has reported that the promotion is seeking to book Robert Whittaker vs. Marvin Vettori for UFC 275, set to take place on June 11th in Singapore.

Whittaker (23-6) is coming off a title fight loss to champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 271, where the latter won via unanimous decision and retained his title. However, the fight was certainly close, and a small minority of MMA reporters (as well as a large contingent of MMA fans) scored the fight in favor of Whittaker.

Nonetheless, it did go as a loss in the record books, making it Whittaker's second loss to Adesanya; the first being when he lost the middleweight belt to Adesanya at UFC 243.

Vettori (18-5-1), meanwhile, is coming off of a unanimous decision victory over Paulo Costa at UFC Fight Night 196. Vettori, like Whittaker, has also lost to Adesanya twice: dropping a split decision at UFC on Fox 29 back in April 2018, and a unanimous decision at UFC 263 in June 2021.

The card will also feature a light heavyweight title bout between Glover Teixeira and Jiri Prochazka and a women's flyweight title fight between Valentina Shevchenko and Taila Santos.