"Not a toy you pass around!" - Israel Adesanya slams fans for being disrespectful to fighters ahead of UFC 263
UFC 263 fight week is here, and Israel Adesanya is not ready to tolerate any disrespect from the fans. The middleweight champion will be defending his belt against Marvin Vettori this Saturday, June 12, 2021, in a rematch of their 2018 clash.
In an elaborate social media post on Sunday, Israel Adesanya called fans out on their problematic behavior when approaching a fighter they like.
"I had some cool fan interactions yesterday. I made time for these fans cuz they were nice, respectful and not entitled. Next week is gonna get crazy cuz y'all have been starved of this beautiful violence. But please just be cool, treat the fighters you meet with respect whether you like them or not and if they give you their time don't abuse it. I hate it when you give a fan a minute of your time and they have 10 different items for you to sign. If a fighter says no, respect their NO! We got sh*t to do during fight week. I do little unique things for cool fans that makes their day or their freiends day when they treat you like real people and not a toy you pass around. I know in the NBA recently some of the fans have been rabidly playing up. Let's show these buffons what really being a fan is about. I just wanna be nice, I hope you help me do that," Israel Adesanya wrote.
Israel Adesanya continues his trolling of Marvin Vettori
The UFC middleweight king is known for indulging in some harmless trolling of his opponents ahead of a fight in the form of memes and jokes. Marvin Vettori is not being spared from that tradition either.
A joke that Israel Adesanya seems to like is comparing Marvin Vettori to an 'orc', a fictional species of hideous-looking, human-like creatures. The character was made popular by J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy magnum opus, Lord of the Rings, and its prequel, The Hobbit.
The joke was started by fellow middleweight Darren Till after Marvin Vettori questioned the legitimacy of the collarbone injury that Till sustained, which led to him pulling out from their April 10 bout.
Israel Adesanya clearly saw an opportunity ripe for the taking and has been making good use of it.
Earlier today, Israel Adesanya compared himself to Legolas, one of the heroic protagonists of Elvish descent from Lord of the Rings. Legolas fought battles against armies of orcs in the story and massacred a number of them. The implications here are quite evident.
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