UFC Vegas 84, Random Land!

After a rare weekend off to start the 2024 schedule, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns for its third event of the year this weekend (Sat., Feb. 3, 2024) from inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. UFC Vegas 85’s main event features a clash between Top 15-ranked Middleweights as Roman Dolidze (No. 8) takes on Nassourdine Imavov (No. 11).

While UFC Vegas 85 isn’t the strongest card regarding name value, it has several fun and exciting fights. So, before it goes down on ESPN+, let’s check out some random storylines, tidbits and statistics ahead of showtime …

Main Event Stakes

With the Middleweight division being relatively wide open after Dricus Du Plessis toppled Sean Strickland at UFC 297 just last month to become the new 185-pound champion, there is a chance for the winner of UFC Vegas 85’s headliner to stake a claim to be a fight or two away from challenging the South African kingpin.

Dolidze is probably closer than Imavov, but in the wacky world of mixed martial arts (MMA), who knows? He is coming off a controversial unanimous decision against Marvin Vettori, in which it could be argued that he won. Before he clashed with Vettori, he rattled off four wins, three of them being finishes.

Imavov, meanwhile, is coming off a “No Contest” against Chris Curtis at UFC 289, and before that, he lost to former champion Strickland.

First Main Event

After eight fights inside the Octagon, Dolidze competes in his first main event — and he deserves it — especially after his violent finishes. At UFC Vegas 85 media day (watch here), Dolidze revealed he requested a main event to the matchmakers … and he obviously got it.

GEORGIA 2024!

The small nation of Georgia is set to have a ridiculous month in UFC. Dolidze is fighting in his first main event to kickoff the big month. Bantamweight title contender, Merab Dvalishvili, takes on Henry Cejudo at UFC 298 for a shot at Sean O’Malley and then in the main event, Ilia Topuria, has the chance to become the first Georgian UFC champion when he takes on Alexander Volkanovski. And it all starts this weekend.

Main Event Redemption

Imavov’s first UFC main event did not go well, getting dominated by the aforementioned Strickland at UFC Vegas 67 and then Strickland got a title shot off of the victory. The French fighter will be looking to avoid going winless (0-2) in UFC main events.

People’s Main Event

I’m not going to lie … Drew Dober vs. Renato Moicano should have headlined UFC Vegas 85. This fight is going to be awesome and should be wild for as long as it lasts.

It is the classic “Striker vs. Grappler” matchup … and both men hunt for finishes.

Dober got back into the win column in Oct. 2023, knocking out Ricky Glenn to claim the all-time knockout record in UFC’s Lightweight division, while Moicano is coming off a first round submission at UFC 281 (watch it).

Welcome Back, ‘Money Moicano’

Speaking of Moicano, he is returning from a 14-month layoff to recover from injuries. The No. 13-seeded Lightweight had a ton of momentum on his side in his last outing, cutting one of the best post-fight promos of all time after he tapped Brad Riddell at UFC 281 (watch highlights).

Because of his momentum, Moicano was scheduled to compete in his second UFC main event last year against Arman Tsarukyan at UFC Vegas 72, but an injury forced him out.

The UFC veteran has a chance to get right back into the mix with an impressive outing in “Sin City.”

Rebooked

The featured bout of UFC Vegas 85 between Randy Brown vs. Muslim Salikhov was supposed to go down at UFC 296, but less than 48 hours before the fight, Brown had withdraw from the fight because of an illness.

Fast forward two months and the Welterweights will clash on Saturday … and it’s going to be a striker’s delight.

Ranked ‘Brazil On Brazil’ Violence

Top 15-ranked women’s Flyweight contenders clash as Vivane Araujo (No. 7) defends her spot against surging prospect, Natalia Silva (No. 9).

Silva has been perfect thus far in UFC, and in her last fight, she dispatched her first ranked opponent, Andrea Lee. Now she gets a big step up in competition against fellow countrywoman, Araujo. And with a win, Silva — who is riding a 10-fight win streak — will get a Top 5-seeded opponent moving forward.

‘The Black Wolf’ Returns

It has been nearly two years since Aliaskhab Khizriev has competed inside the Octagon. No one knows what led to the layoff, but it’s normal because the Russian fighter has only fought three times since 2017 … which sucks because he is a fun fighter to watch.

Khizriev is coming off a win in his Octagon debut in which he tapped Denis Tiuliulin at UFC Columbus in March 2022 (watch highlights). He faces Makhmud Muradov on Saturday.

Uh-Oh … The ‘R’ Word

At UFC Vegas 85 media day earlier this week, Diana Belbita revealed that she quietly retired after her loss to Karolina Kowalkiewicz. It wasn’t until she was offered to rematch Molly McCann at UFC Vegas 85 that she un-retired.

The two fighters fought back in 2019 at UFC on ESPN 6 and McCann won a pretty dominant unanimous decision.

Whether she wins or loses, Belbita revealed she doesn’t know if she will retire again and is just focused on McCann (who also considered recent retirement).

‘Meatball’ Moving Down

McCann is dropping down to Strawweight for the first time in her career after 18 fights at Flyweight. The reason for the move down to 115 pounds, according to McCann at UFC Vegas 85 media day, “She was out-sized.” And she’s not lying because being 5’4” in the Flyweight division is tiny.

McCann revealed to get down to Strawweight, she is eating 200 grams of carbs and more than three pounds of gum … which is not many calories, obviously.

‘The Korean Tiger’ Returns

Okay, one last return: Lee Jeong Yeong returns for his second fight in the promotion almost one year to the day to which he earned his UFC contract at UFC Vegas 68. He faces Blake Bilder.

Welcome To UFC!

Two fighters are making their official Octagon debuts at UFC Vegas 85.

MarQuel Mederos (8-1) takes on Landon Quinones. Mederos coming off a contract-winning performance on season seven of Contender Series against Issa Isakov, where he knocked him in the first round. He holds a 75 percent finish rate with six knockouts.

Thomas Petersen (8-1) fights Jamal Pogues. Petersen is also coming off a contract-winning performance on season seven of Contender Series in which he tapped out Chandler Cole in the second round. Petersen holds a 100 percent finish rate with seven knockouts.

New House, New Themba?

Themba Gorimbo returns to action this weekend against Pete Rodriguez, who takes the fight on shorter notice than usual. Gorimbo was surprised with a brand new Florida house by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson last year after his fight because of their similar stories.

Until he was given a new home, Gorimbo was sleeping inside his gym, MMA Masters. Now that he doesn’t have to worry about where to sleep and is able to train full-time, “The Answer” might be a brand new fighter with even more motivation.

Winners And Losers

Eighteen fighters are coming off wins, while seven are coming off losses. One is coming off a “No Contest” (Imavov).

Multi-Divisions

Here are the divisions that will be on display this Saturday:

• One Heavyweight fight
• Two Middleweight fights
• Two Welterweight fights
• Two Lightweight fights
• One Featherweight fight
• One Flyweight fight
• Two Women’s Flyweight fights
• One Women’s Strawweight fight

Beta Dog

According to DraftKings, UFC Vegas 85’s “biggest” underdog is Araujo at +280.

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MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 85 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+ preliminary card bouts at 4 p.m. ET, followed by the ESPN+ main card start time at 7 p.m. ET.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC Vegas 85 news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive here. For the updated and finalized “Dolidze vs. Imavov” fight card and ESPN+ line up click here.