"He's a tricky fighter" - Marvin Vettori details what helped Israel Adesanya gain the edge over him
Marvin Vettori recently shared his take on his fights against Israel Adesanya in the UFC.
'The Italian Dream' stated that Adesanya is a very tricky fighter who takes a similar approach to playing a video game whenever he is inside the octagon. Coupled with his elusive style, 'The Last Stylebender' is a very experienced fighter which helps him not feel any pressure in a fight.
While speaking to Brendan Schaub on The Food Truck Diaries, here's what the former UFC middleweight title challenger said on israel Adesanya:
"He's a tricky fighter man. You gotta give him that. He is very expereinced. He's fighting like a game. So, there's not a bit of pressure whenever he walks into that cage.
"You gotta give him that because he deals with it really methodically in everything that he does. So, he edged me not mentally, in the sense of like toughness or anything like that, on the tricky part of the mental game in the sense."
Watch Marvin Vettori talk about Israel Adesanya:
Vettori and Adesanya have fought twice in the UFC with their latest clash being at UFC 263. 'The Last Stylebender' managed to earn a decision win on both occasions.
Vettori also stated that he was very inexperienced heading into their first fight and was baited by all the feints that Adesanya offered. Despite that, it was only a split decision win for the Nigerian-born Kiwi fighter. 'The Italian Dream' is confident he will eventually catch up to Adesanya's level as he gains more experience with time.
Marvin Vettori returns against Robert Whittaker in September
Marvin Vettori is set to make his return to the octagon at UFC Paris in September as he will square off against former champion Robert Whittaker in a clash of top middleweight contenders.
Vettori and Whittaker were scheduled to clash at UFC 275. However, 'The Reaper' suffered an injury and had to withdraw. Nonetheless, they will share the octagon in a matter of two months.
Both fighters have two losses against Adesanya and it will take something special from either man to get another crack at the middleweight title as long as Adesanya is the champion. That said, they are always in title contention given their body of work in the middleweight division over time.