UFC 263 Results : Israel Adesanya Decisions Marvin Vettori In Rematch, Retains Middleweight Title

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya retained his belt with a unanimous decision victory over Marvin Vettori in their rematch on Saturday night at UFC 263.

The “Style Bender” bounced back from his unanimous decision loss to Jan Blachowicz, defeating Vettori more decisively this time in the main event of the ESPN televised card at Gila River Arena in Glendale.

Adesanya edged Vettori with a split decision in their first meeting back in 2018 at UFC on Fox 29 and since then both fighters have exchanged written jabs on social media and also said all manner of thing in the build up to their second meeting. However, Adesanya ended up victorious.

Adesanya utilised his lethal weapon of leg kicks and strikes, dominating most of the fight as Vettori was more aggressive of the two and despite scoring many takedowns in the fight, Adesanya reversed many and was able to defend himself in unpleasant situations.

Vettori had his chances too, with his best coming in the third round when he had the champ back and went in for the rear naked choke. However, Adesanya’s stay in the position was brief as he was able to scramble out of the position after defending successfully defending himself.

The fight eventually ended and the judges announced the scorecards but Vettori wasn’t happy with the results. Both made friendly exchanges after the fight, while talking about the result.

Adesanya, who celebrated differently after this win, dedicated the win to his late City Kickboxing training partner Fau Vak, who died early May after he was brutally beaten. He then called out Robert Whittaker, whom he defeated to win the title back in 2019, for a possible rematch.

Adesanya defended the belt for the third time since winning the title. He has before now defended against Yoel Romero and most recently Paulo Costa.

For Vettori, the loss snaps his fight fight winning streak and his second loss since joing the promotion, with both coming from the hands of the “Style Bender”.