Marvin Vettori gives his theory on why Israel Adesanya won in their first fight.
Vettori faces UFC middleweight champion Adesanya at UFC 263 this Saturday in his hopes of becoming the first Italian UFC champion in a rematch after the two fought back in 2018 when both were just up-and-coming prospects. Their first fight was razor close as Adesanya edged out the Italian in a split decision.
Vettori believes vehemently that he won the first fight and gave his theory in a recent interview with DAZN on why the judges gifted him the victory.
“They scored the feints,” said Vettori. “They scored his movement, leg kicks and some of the jabs more than me having the center of the ring, me being the aggressor most of the time, me trying to push the pace of the fight. Even the significant strikes were really, really close with a difference that I was pushing him against the cage, and trying for takedown.”
On the other hand, Adesanya recently claimed to have the judge who scored the first fight for Vettori removed from the rematch. The middleweight champion feels the one judge’s score for Vettori in the first fight to be baffling.
“This time, shout out to my man Tim and Eugene,” Adesanya told Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports. “Eugene already made a complaint a while back to I think Mick [Maynard] saying ‘we never want him to judge again.’ And apparently, he was scheduled to judge this fight again and shout out to my man Tim from Paradigm. He said ‘no f*cking way,’ and yeah, we got him out of there. No disrespect to him but full disrespect to him if he actually thought Marvin won the last fight.”
Since his loss to Adesanya in 2018, Vettori has not lost and has steamrolled ahead on his way to a championship title shot. Currently on a five-fight winning streak against the likes of Karl Roberson, Jack Hermansson, and Kevin Holland, “Angry Marvin” is hoping to continue his winning momentum and finally get his hands on the UFC belt.
Vettori went on to dismiss Adesanya’s skills as a fighter, admitting that whilst he’s a good fighter, he’s not as good as the media are portraying him out to be and on Saturday night, he will prove the difference to show the world why he’s the best in the world.
When asked how the fight was going to play out, Vettori kept it short and sweet mentioning that he going to frustrate “The Last Stylebender” and eventually finish him.
“I see him being frustrated in there and me capitalizing on some of the mistakes that he makes,” said Vettori. “I eventually finish him and make it clear that I’m the best middleweight in the world.”
How do you see the rematch playing out? Will it be repeat or revenge?
