After his victory over Kevin Holland, Marvin Vettori earned the right to challenge middleweight champion Israel Adesanya. After five consecutive victories, the Italian is aiming for revenge against the Nigerian, who defeated him in 2018.
Next month, the two fighters will meet at UFC 263 and will star in a close fight. The main event will feature Israel Adesanya in the 185-pound class after a stint at light heavyweight. The African moved up with the goal of challenging Jan Blachowicz for the vacant light heavyweight title, however “Polish Power” stopped him.
“RESIGNED”: MARTIN VETTORI SURPRISED EVERYONE WITH HIS MESSAGE BEFORE FACING ISRAEL ADESANYA
The Nigerian fighter is preparing to defend his middleweight title against Vettori on June 13. Israel Adesanya has a record of 20 victories, 15 of which have been by knockout.
On the other hand, the Italian Vettori bets on forcefulness and hard punches, in that sense he talked about Adesanya’s weaknesses on Mike Swik’s “Real Quick” podcast.
“For me it is relevant, he has simply demonstrated things that were already known. People see him as the Mayweather of MMA, but he’s not. Blachowicz did a great job defensively and knocked him down. People figured he’s a phenom, but even though he’s good, he gets hit, misses a lot and gets knocked down. I think I’m capable of doing that,” Vettori said of his next opponent, adding that his main weakness is fighting on the ground.
“The last time he was knocked down, he quit. He was just laying there. The African, when it comes to the middle of the cage, when they take him down in the middle of the cage and he has nowhere to lean, he’s pretty useless,” the Italian detected.
Finally, the Nigerian’s next opponent indicated that he will look to knock him down in the middle of the cage so that he has no chance to reverse the situation.
UFC 263 is headed to Arizona for a full capacity event featuring a rematch between middleweight champ Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori.
The pay-per-view event takes place June 12 at the 18,000-seat Gila River Arena in Glendale, Ariz., the UFC announced during the main card of UFC Vegas 25 on Saturday. UFC President Dana White previously teased a trip to the Grand Canyon State with the promotion’s return to live crowds at UFC 261 this past month.
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