Vettori withdraws from UFC Baku with broken rib, future opponent unclear

Marvin Vettori will not compete at UFC Fight Night 280 in Baku on June 27 after disclosing a broken rib that rules him out of his scheduled middleweight bout against Ismail Naurdiev at the National Gymnastics Arena in Azerbaijan.

Vettori (19-10-1) announced the withdrawal on Instagram on Thursday, explaining that an MRI confirmed the fracture. The injury does not require surgery, but his medical team has advised a four-to-six-week recovery period before he can return to full training.

“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. I moved from Florida to California for this camp.”

The 32-year-old, who joined the UFC a decade ago, had relocated specifically to prepare for the contest, training alongside Beneil Dariush and working on his boxing and conditioning with specialist coaches. Despite the setback, Vettori remained upbeat about his return. “Sometimes s–t happens and you can’t do anything about it,” he said. “If they reschedule me with the same guy, great. If not, doesn’t matter. Anybody is good for me.”

The withdrawal is a significant blow to the Italian’s momentum. Vettori is currently on a career-long four-fight losing streak — the only time in his professional career he has dropped consecutive bouts. His last victory came via decision over Roman Dolidze in 2023, after which he lost on the scorecards to Jared Cannonier, Dolidze in their rematch, Brendan Allen, and Brunno Ferreira.

Naurdiev (25-8) is now listed as facing a to-be-announced opponent on the updated UFC Baku card. It remains unclear whether the UFC will find a replacement to keep Naurdiev on the June 27 bill or reschedule the original pairing for a later event.

The remainder of the UFC Fight Night 280 card features a middleweight main event between Sharabutdin Magomedov and Michel Pereira, with Abusupiyan Magomedov vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk and Brunno Ferreira vs. Ikram Aliskerov also among the bouts scheduled at the National Gymnastics Arena in Baku.