What's next for Roman Dolidze? A deep dive into his recent UFC run

The path forward for Roman Dolidze is a complicated one. He's a recognizable name in both the UFC middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, but his recent run has left a lot to be desired. He suffered yet another loss at UFC Sacramento this past weekend, and it begs the question. Where does he go from here?

The Roman Dolidze crisis

When Roman Dolidze first entered the UFC, he did so as an undefeated phenom with a high finishing rate. Unfortunuately for him, his spotless record was inevitably stained when he lost a unanimous decision to Trevin Giles at UFC Vegas 22. It was his middleweight debut, and did not go as planned. Despite the loss, he stayed in the division and racked up four conscutive wins. More and more, he seemeed like a potential title contender, but when he was given the chance to prove it at UFC 286, he ended up losing a unanimous decision to Marvin Vettori, of all people. This was followed by yet another loss. A majority decision to Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Vegas 85. It was the first losing streak of Dolidze's career, and sadly, not his last.

He rebounded with a three-fight win streak, defeating Anthony Smith via unanimous decision at UFC 303, TKO'ing Kevin Holland in round one at UFC 307 due to a rib injury, and then scoring a unanimous decision over Vettori in a rematch at UFC Vegas 104. That marked his last win before Dolidze found himself on a three-fight skid. He was submitted in round four by Anthony Hernandez at UFC Vegas 109, beaten via unanimous decision by Christian Leroy Duncan at UFC Fight Night 270, and most recently TKO'd in round one by Reinier de Ridder at UFC Sacramento. It's a concerning run once context is taken into account, beginning with his last three wins. First, there's the win over Smith.

Smith is not a stellar opponent by any stretch of the imagination. He's a serviceable fighter, but one with double digit losses at 39-22. He's a journeyman, and prior to returning to MMA at Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA 9, where he submitted Chase Sherman in round one, he had retired from fighting after going 2-6 in his last 8 fights. Even the height of Smith's career isn't remotely impressive. He earned a light heavyweight title shot at UFC 235, where he faced the legendary Jon Jones. To earn it, he put together a three-fight win streak against the ghosts of Rashad Evans and Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua, and a Volkan Oezdemir coming off a TKO loss to Daniel Cormier.

Holland, who Dolidze next beat, also has double digit losses, with a 29-15 (1) record, is small enough to fight at welterweight, and is on an inconsistent 6-6 run in his last 12 fights. Vettori is another fighter with double digit losses, at 19-10-1. Even worse, Vettori is currently 1-5 in his last six fights and on four-fight losing streak. If these are the caliber of opponents Dolidze can beat, he'll be out of luck if he's aiming to achieve anything at either middleweight or light heavyweight. He's a good grappler, but a poor striker with weak takedowns and even worse gameplanning. He either stars in mediocre standup affairs or tries to pull guard.

There's very little chance he ever fights for a UFC title, and he isn't a fan favorite. After all, he's unranked by Meta UFC, while the media panel has him barely ranked as the #15 middleweight. He's already 38 and there isn't much for him to achieve in the promotion. If he stays at light heavyweight, he'll be well-served taking on an unranked up-and-comer or journeyman to get back in the win column. However, if he returns to middleweight, a fight between the loser of Vettori's upcoming matchup with Ismail Naurdiev at UFC 332 is a good option. Otherwise, he'll continue racking up losses until the UFC no longer has any use for him.