Apr 14, 2018; Glendale, AZ, USA; Israel Adesanya (red gloves) fights against Marvin Vettori (blue gloves) during UFC Fight Night at Gila River Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori will be facing off at UFC 263 this weekend
Adesanya’s dominance will be put to test when he takes on the tough-as-nails Marvin Vettori in the main event of UFC 263.
The pair have a lot of bad blood going into the fight, due to their first meeting at UFC on Fox: Poirier vs Gaethje, which ended in a controversial split decision victory for Adesanya. Until this day, Vettori believes he won that fight.
Adesanya has been unfazed by all those allegations, and is coming into the fight looking forward to doing what he has been doing best in the middleweight division.
Ahead of his fight, the Nigerian sat with THEMACLIFE in an interview, and detailed a recent hotel run-in with the ‘Italian Dream’.
Adesanya claimed that Vettori was terrified once he locked eyes with him (Izzy).
“When I was on the elevator…I get downstairs and I see the security get tensed…I look to my right and I see Leon Edwards…I look again and Marvin’s on the other side. I said- ‘Oh, Hey!’ [waves]. And then I waved at him, and he looked petrified. He kept on looking back [at me].”
Vettori has been rampant on the ground, of late. The grapple-heavy Italian is coming off a win over Kevin Holland, against whom he executed a staggering 11 takedowns (which is a middleweight record for the most takedowns in a single match).
Now Adesanya has a slight weakness when it comes to facing ground-heavy fighters. It was exposed against Jan Blachowicz during his last outing at UFC 259. The Pole dominated Adesanya on the canvas, to hand the Nigerian the first ever loss in his MMA career.
Izzy will be hoping that he plays to his strengths, come the 12th of June.
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