Marvin Vettori is out of his scheduled UFC Baku matchup after suffering a broken rib in training, forcing him to withdraw from the June 27 event.
Vettori was slated to face Ismail Naurdiev in a middleweight bout on the card. The Italian contender revealed the injury and his withdrawal through his social media channels.
“Unfortunately, I’m here to tell you that a few days ago, I got hurt on my rib,” Vettori said. “I did an MRI, and it came back today showing that the rib is broken. So I won’t be fighting June 27.”
“I was really looking forward to this fight,” he added. “Moved from Florida to California for this camp, wanted to get back to my roots … I was feeling good. Sometimes s--t happens and you can’t do nothing about it. So, yeah, now I’m just gonna focus on my recovery. Hopefully, it doesn’t take too long. Four to six weeks, I’m good to train again and then, they reschedule me with the same guy? Great. If not, doesn’t matter. Anybody is good to me.”
The UFC has not yet announced whether Naurdiev, known as “Austrian Wonderboy,” will remain on the UFC Baku card or be re-booked against Vettori at a later date.
UFC Baku is set to be headlined by a lightweight bout between Rafael Fiziev and Manuel Torres, with Shara Magomedov meeting Michel Pereira in the co-main event. Vettori, “The Italian Dream,” has gone 1-5 over the past four years, with his last victory coming against Roman Dolidze in March 2023, and has earned two Fight of the Night bonuses in that span.
