Athletes
Marvin Vettori Is ‘All In’
Italian Middleweight Contender Has Abandoned Any Thoughts Of Defense As He Gets Set To Go On The Attack Against Brendan Allen At UFC 318
Tenth-ranked middleweight contender Marvin Vettori arrives in New Orleans for UFC 318 looking to snap a two-fight skid, but victory will mean much more than simply a return to form for the 31-year-old.
Vettori takes on rival Brendan Allen, and said he’s happy to be facing Allen, who is ranked just one spot behind him in the official UFC middleweight rankings.
POWER SLAP 14: Live And Free On YouTube | Get Tickets | More Info
“I’m looking forward to feeling what (strength) he's got, but yeah, I’m definitely very confident.”
Vettori is fighting with a heavy heart after his brother Patrick tragically died in a house fire in April. He was just 30. As he struggled to process his grief, training and fighting became much more than a vocation for Vettori. It became a way to move on.
“The same reason it's hard is the same reason why I do it. Because I need to keep going,” he explained.
“This is my way to do something meaningful, that gives me purpose, and gets me up in the morning. Because, honestly, when something like this happens, nothing makes sense anymore, and you’ve got to give it some sense.
WATCH: UFC 318 Embedded
“I know (Patrick) would have wanted me to do this, too. I think I was always an example of resilience for him, always trying to push past struggles and difficulties in life, and that's what I have to keep doing. Obviously, a lot of my perspective shifted, but in this time of my life, this is what I'm doing, and I'm gonna keep doing it, and that's it. I need to do it for him, too, so I keep going.
“A lot of people also look at me as an example, and look at me the way he was looking at me – other people in my family, people very close, people around me. So I need to keep going for them, too.”
Rise Of Marvin Vettori
Unlock MORE of your inner combat sports fan with UFC Fight Pass! Fighting is what we live for. And no one brings you MORE live fights, new shows, and events across multiple combat sports from around the world. With a never-ending supply of fighting in every discipline, there`s always something new to watch. Leave it to the world`s authority in MMA to bring you the Ultimate 24/7 platform for MORE combat sports, UFC Fight Pass!
Rise Of Marvin Vettori
/
That change in mindset has also eliminated any pressure he may have felt in the past. Having experienced something so devastating – the loss of a sibling – his perspective on his fighting career has changed considerably.
“There's no pressure anymore, man,” he said.
GET YOUR TICKETS: UFC 318 | UFC Abu Dhabi | UFC 319
“There's nothing to lose. The worst thing that could ever happen in my life pretty much happened already. So that's the way I see it now. It’s like it’s no pressure. At the end of the day, there is more to life than this.
“But this is what I’ve been dedicating my whole life to. So, if you dedicate your life to something, you better make it work. So that’s what I’m doing. I’m still a young man. People haven’t seen me for a while, but I'm still young. Physically, I'm good. And it's time for me to show that I'm still one of the best.”
Despite having competed in the UFC middleweight division since 2016, Vettori has a remarkable record of never being finished. It’s something that he admits he was a little too proud of, and may have affected some of his past performances.
“I wasn't thinking about it. And then the last few fights kind of got to me,” he admitted.
FOLLOW @UFCNEWS: On Facebook | On Instagram | On X | On Threads
“But f**k it, man. Now I’m gonna throw it all out of the window, because I feel like maybe sometimes that was holding me back before.
“At the end, it was a bit of a chip on my shoulder, and maybe that was keeping me from giving my complete all. It's just a mental thing. You're thinking that maybe not giving your all stops you from getting finished. But it's not like that.
“I don't want it no more, so I don't care. It is what it is. I’m gonna give everything, and if (getting finished) does happen, it happens. Who cares? Like, I said, my mindset is like, I’ve got nothing to lose. The worst thing that could ever happen already happened. I'm not scared of nothing in life.”
It all means that Vettori is ready to go all-out to defeat “All In” on Saturday night, and he’s determined to step into the cage and go full throttle in search of his first UFC knockout victory.
Get Your Tickets To Canelo vs Crawford In Las Vegas
“I want to knock him out,” he said.
“I’m giving everything to knock him out. I'm going in (like) the old Vettori. The old, but improved, Vettori.”
UFC 318: Holloway vs Poirier 3 took place live from Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana on July 19, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
Tags