Michael Bisping believes Marvin Vettori has the blueprint to defeat Israel Adesanya thanks to Jan Blachowicz.
Vettori will meet Adesanya in a rematch for the middleweight title that will headline the upcoming UFC 263 event taking place June 12.
For Vettori, it’s a chance to not only extend his win streak to six and become a champion, but also get revenge on Adesanya after losing a split decision to him back in 2018.
As for Adesanya, it’s a chance to truly end his rivalry with Vettori and return to the win column after suffering a unanimous decision defeat to Blachowicz in their light heavyweight title fight in March — his first professional loss.
While the champion is back to his natural division now, Bisping believes now is the best time for Vettori to face Adesanya.
“Well, for Marvin Vettori, I guess you can say he’s getting him at a good time,” Bisping told The Schmo. “Obviously, he’s coming off a loss and when you’re undefeated, you truly believe you can walk through anybody on the planet. Especially when you’re the size of Adesanya. You feel invincible but then when you get beaten, that kind of diminishes a little bit. Of course, you still have confidence in yourself but it does take away that little special sauce.
“However, it wasn’t a bad loss and it was a very close fight with the light heavyweight champ. … It’s not like he was knocked out. I remember when I lost by a decision, it didn’t feel like a loss. When I got knocked out by Dan Henderson, that was different, it was a legit loss.”
Bisping: Blueprint There For Vettori
That said, Bisping believes the loss to Blachowicz — who notably took Adesanya down in the fourth and fifth rounds to seal the unanimous decision win — has provided a blueprint for Vettori to replicate.
He’s still leaning with the champion, however.
“For Adesanya, he should go into this fight very confident,” Bisping explained. “Of course, he’s already beaten Marvin Vettori. Both of them have got better, I think Vettori has got way better. I think for Marvin Vettori, seeing the way Blachowicz beat him has set the tone for how to beat him.
“… I think the way to beat Adesanya is obviously take him down, but most people take him down against the fence. … It’s easier [to defend] because you can lean agains the wall or the fence and if you get taken down, you can use that to stand back up. What we saw against Blachowicz was Blachowicz took him down in the middle of the Octagon. The reason that’s more beneficial is you got to be a better wrestler to penetrate and drive through and put them down. To take someone down in the middle is harder but you’ll have more success against Israel is because they haven’t got the fence to lean on — they’re just going to fall over. And then when you get him down, it’s actually way harder to get back to your feet if you’re in the middle of the Octagon because you’ve got nothing to lean on.
“I think Vettori saw that and I think he’ll come with a heavy wrestling-oriented game plan like he did against Kevin Holland, but you still got to side with the champ. I’m still leaning with the champ. He’s the champ for a reason.”
You can watch the full interview below:
