Vettori splits from American Top Team and names Dariush as coach to end four-fight skid

Marvin Vettori has parted ways with American Top Team and relocated to California, installing Beneil Dariush as his head coach as he looks to arrest a four-fight losing streak ahead of UFC 332 on 3 October at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

The Italian middleweight (19-10), a former UFC title challenger, will face Ismail Naurdiev (25-8) at the event. Vettori had been based in Florida with ATT since 2023, but said the environment was not drawing the best out of him despite holding no ill will toward the gym.

“I made some changes… I’m back in California,” Vettori told MMA Fighting. “I had to find myself again and I did. I feel good. I’m actually excited to fight… I went back to my roots and went back to what made me the fighter who won five in a row and fought for the title… ATT, I’ve got nothing but great things to say. I feel like it wasn’t getting the best out of me.”

Vettori originally trained at Kings MMA from 2015 to 2022 — the period that coincided with his rise through the middleweight ranks and a five-fight winning run that earned him a title shot. He then had a brief spell at Xtreme Couture before moving to ATT. The Kings MMA setup he returns to is no longer the same organisation, but Vettori has rebuilt a familiar support structure around it.

“[My new team] is not Kings MMA like the one that was before; that doesn’t even exist anymore,” he said. “I have been training with Beneil Dariush as a head coach. And I went back to my boxing coach, my S&C coach.”

Dariush, a respected lightweight contender in the UFC, takes on the coaching role as Vettori seeks to rediscover the form that once made him one of the division’s most dangerous contenders. The bout with Naurdiev represents a critical juncture for “The Italian Dream”, whose record has slipped to four consecutive defeats.