UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori may not enjoy being in one another’s presence without cracking the other in the mouth, but they are in the same company of fast-talkers who love dressing down their doubters.
At UFC 263, Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori will do battle for the second time in a rematch three years in the making. Some may say that Vettori made an unlikely rise to the top after his loss to Adesanya and being considered nothing more than a level-2 boss in The Adventures of The Last Stylebender. Those people would be right.
In his loss to Adesanya, Vettori became the poster boy of the week for questionable scorecards more than a candidate for future title contention. Toss in a USADA suspension later that year, and any considerations of Vettori as a big prospect were tossed in the muck.
Three years and and five wins later, Vettori is front and center in the main event of a big pay-per-view, and if the mouthy Italian had the chance, he’d jump at the opportunity to shout in the faces of each and every one of his naysayers like a meathead linebacker after a big sack.
Even Israel Adesanya himself wrote Vettori off two times, once for himself and once on Vettori’s own behalf, stating that deep down the Italian himself knew that he would never be in a position to rematch him. The champion theorized that this is why Vettori constantly harks back to that fateful night in Glendale, Arizona, three years ago, where the judges’ scorecards stood opposed to Vettori’s declaration of the outcome.
However, Adesanya and all those who subscribed to that notion were wrong. Now, Vettori is in a position to attach a screaming exclamation point to a declarative statement against his doubters and the odds by becoming the first Italian champion in the history of the UFC.
As fate would have it, the rematch between Adesanya and Vettori will take place right back in the exact same setting of their first act, giving Vettori all the particulars he needs to go back in time, like a video game player who hits reset after failing the first time and is now ready to beat the big, bad boss again after putting in more practice.
For Israel Adesanya, he has always maintained that it is he who is Player 1. This is his game, his story. And part of this game has featured Izzy surfing over his doubters with taunting waves as he coasted all the way to the middleweight gold.
When Izzy first arrived on the scene and began to pick up instant media recognition, there was a common belief that he was just another hype train, a one-dimensional kickboxer who will eventually run into a level that he was unprepared for. Adesanya has always been unshy about reminding his naysayers of how wrong they were after dispelling narrative after narrative.
The truth of the matter is, though, Israel Adesanya has closed as the odds-on favorite in every single one of his UFC fights. So it’s not that the odds have been against him at the books. And every athlete of every sport at every level has dealt with doubt in one form or another. It’s just that some athletes seem to get more satisfaction when shutting down their doubters, and both Adesanya and Vettori are among them.
This rematch will present Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori will another opportunity to feel the sweet joy that comes along with outmaneuvering their doubters. For Adesanya, many of his doubters are now within his very own division, with there being a growing belief that light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz laid out the blueprint on how to beat him: outwrestle and neutralize.
At UFC 263, Israel Adesanya will seek to counter anyone and everyone attacking his skill set with the claims that he’s been exposed. The flashy star will look to dance all over this narrative with arms raised after dazzling movements. Standing in his way will be the hardhead from Trento, Italy, looking to silence his own crowd of doubters in this fight game, beginning and ending with the lead boss of them all and the final level of MMA middleweight difficulty: The Last Stylebender.
