Roman Dolidze gets an A+ for creativity in his win at UFC Orlando.
After accepting the bout on short notice, Dolidze trapped opponent Jack Hermansson in a nasty calf-slicer before transitioning to the top position where he just rained down blows. With his leg stuck, Hermansson couldn’t do anything to escape as Dolidze just hammered away at him with punches until referee Marc Goddard had to step in and rescue him from further harm.
The official end came at 4:06 in the second round as Dolidze picks up the biggest win of his career. Afterwards, he called for an even bigger fight.
“First of all, I’m a grappler,” Dolidze shouted. “World champion grappling but I can knock people out. I’m a self-made grappler. It’s just natural.
“It’s with all respect, Khamzat [Chimaev] I don’t think will make [170 pounds] anymore. I’m ready for him. I’m here.”
Prior to his call out, Dolidze was trying to chase Hermansson down but the always elusive middleweight was doing a good job staying out of his powerful range. Hermansson did attempt to take the fight into his world on the ground but Dolidze was quick to reverse him and make him pay any time they got locked in a grappling exchange.
That’s exactly what led to the end of the fight as well.
With Hermansson scrambling on the ground, Dolidze was constantly threatening with submissions from the bottom until he grabbed the leg and rolled into the calf-slicer. From there, Dolidze just continued his momentum, which put Hermansson flat on his stomach with the Georgian on top of him with the nasty submission still locked on the leg.
It was all Dolidze from there as he just kept throwing punches and Hermansson couldn’t do anything except cover his head and wait for the referee to stop the fight.
With four wins in a row, Dolidze has suddenly become a player in the middleweight division and he’s hoping Khamzat Chimaev will be his next opponent as he continues his climb up the 185-pound ranks.
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