Israel Adesanya scoffs at Marvin Vettori's 'obsession' with him
UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya fired back at Marvin Vettori's provocations, signaling that he would be open to fighting the Italian in the future.
The two locked horns against each other in 2018, when 'The Last Stylebender' defeated 'The Italian Dream' via split decision. For many MMA fans and experts, that was Adesanya's most challenging bout at 185 lbs.
Following his unsuccessful attempt to become a UFC double champion, losing to light heavyweight titleholder Jan Blachowicz, Israel Adesanya poked fun at Vettori. He even pretended to forget the Italian's name.
Enraged, Vettori took to his Twitter account to take shots at Israel Adesanya. 'The Italian Dream' still believes that he should have won that bout.
Now, 'The Last Stylebender' has finally addressed Vettori's "obsession" with him. In a post to his Twitter account, he scoffed at one of the last messages shared by the Italian, uploading a Mariah Carey gif along.
Israel Adesanya is alluding to a tweet from Vettori, in which the Italian claims that he "lives rent-free" in Adesanya's head.
"First they ignore you, second they discredit you, then they play games. I live free rent in your head. Soon you will have nowhere to run. I'm waiting for you boy, Israel Adesanya," Marvin Vettori wrote.
Returning to his natural weight class, Israel Adesanya has expressed his wish to fight either Jared Cannonier or Darren Till next, in what would be his third UFC title defense of the middleweight belt.
On the other hand, Vettori is set to take on Till on April 10. The Italian aims to stop Adesanya's dream of fighting the British mixed martial artist, hoping that the win will catapult him for the title shot.
How was Marvin Vettori vs. Israel Adesanya?
Many combat sports analysts and enthusiasts believe that the contest against Marvin Vettori was Israel Adesanya's most challenging win at middleweight thus far.
Some, Vettori included, think that the split decision by the judges did not reflect what happened inside the octagon. Speaking to MMA Junkie, Vettori shared his thoughts on the fight with Israel Adesanya.
"People can say whatever they want about my fight. I have my opinions. He has his opinions. People have their opinions, … but whoever won that fight, and the judges – one gave it to me, two gave it to him – whoever, even him, is he happy with what happened in that fight? Did it really go down like it was supposed to go down? Did anybody really come out on top, like saying, 'I beat the other guy?"