Israel Adesanya admits he wasn’t too interested in fighting Marvin Vettori again.
Adesanya and Vettori fought back in 2018 with Adesanya winning a split decision win. Since then, Vettori claimed he won the scrap and was eager for the rematch. Now that they are set to meet in the main event of UFC 263 the rivalry between the two have gotten intense including a hotel run-in. Yet, according to “The Last Stylebender” he says Vettori wasn’t as loud as he was in person.
“I went downstairs and I had a feeling something was going to happen, so I told my brother ‘get down here’ when I was on the elevator,” Adesanya said to TheMacLife. “I get downstairs and I see the security get tense. I look to my right and I see Leon Edwards and I see that Marvin’s on the other side. I waved at him and he looked petrified. He kept on looking back and then I told Steve [UFC security] that I’m not going to do nothing to him. He’s not going to do shit either, and then I got my Covid test and I went to go check in and he happened to be right there. I walked up to him and I shook his hand like I did with Costa.
“People think this is a game. It’s not a game. This is the tactics of war. I understand this game: warfare,” Adesanya continued. “I went and shook his hand and same thing like I said in Vegas, he’s all smiley-smiley… and you know why? He didn’t have his crew with him. If it was me by myself and he had his mob with him, I would have kept the same energy. I’m a civil guy, when the time for comes I’ll take that.”
Although Adesanya and Vettori have a rivalry this is not a fight the champ wanted. Instead, he wanted to fight new contender but after seeing Kamaru Usman KO Jorge Masvidal in the rematch he says he became inspired to beat the Italian again.
“It’s because Rob didn’t take it. They both wanted September/October and I was like, who’s going to step up to June? He stepped up, so kudos to him for doing that,” Adesanya said. “He had to grab… clutch at straws even and I was reluctant at first but I saw Usman do work on an immediate rematch for homeboy [Masvidal]. I’m inspired now. I want to take this guy out. I want to shut him down. Completely shut out.”
Do you think Israel Adesanya will beat Marvin Vettori at UFC 263?