Despite suffering a pair of decision losses to former undisputed UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya during his Octagon tenure, recent UFC 286 co-headliner, Marvin Vettori believes he has made the requisite improvements and adjustments to leave himself confident of breaking his duct in a trilogy fight.
Vettori, the current #3 ranked middleweight contender, managed to return to the winner’s enclosure at UFC 286 earlier this month, defeating the surging, Roman Dolidze in a close, unanimous decision victory in the pair’s co-main event matchup in London.
Rebounding to the winning circle, Vettori had previously dropped a UFC Fight Night Paris decision loss to former undisputed middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker in July of last year.
Dropping a close decision loss to Adesanya in their first pairing back in April 2018, Trento native, Vettori worked his way back to a title rematch with the former champion with a five-fight winning streak, before dropping another unanimous decision loss in their UFC 263 headlining rematch.
Marvin Vettori believes he now has the tools to defeat Israel Adesanya
However, with Adesanya slated to headline UFC 287 in two weeks’ time against undisputed kingpin, Alex Pereira in a bid to regain his championship crown – Vettori believes a third outing with the Nigerian-Kiwi would see him emerge as the victor.
“Maybe I’ll get (Israel) Adesanya after this fight,” Marvin Vettori said during a recent interview with Inside Fighting. “With the improvement in my striking – it is good, I will make an improvement in the wrestling. I will press the wrestling even more and I’m definitely – my top control is much sharper right now.”
“So I think I would do it [defeat Israel Adesanya] for sure,” Marvin Vettori explained. “I will be very confident walking into that fight, to be honest.”
Over the course of last weekend, Vettori made headlines after footage emerged of him involved in an altercation with an Italian rapper and professional boxer, dropping the latter with a series of punches during a scuffle.
Before his decison loss to Whittaker last summer, Vettori defeated fellow one-time title challenger, Paulo Costa in a unanimous decision triumph in an impromtu light heavyweight clash.