Middleweight champ Israel Adesanya almost came to blows with Marvin Vettori in the hotel lobby ahead of their UFC 263 main event matchup. However the champ says that this did not happen, because the challenger was scared to act tough.
Heading into this title clash on Saturday night, Adesanya is looking to prove that he is still the best middleweight in the world, after a failed attempt to capture a second title. He will be taking on Vettori, in a rematch of their 2018 bout that saw Izzy win a close split decision.
Prior to the contest at UFC 263, these two top middleweights nearly came to blows in the hotel lobby. They came face to face, where they talked trash to one another, with Vettori asking Israel for his belt.
Israel Adesanya Says Marvin Vettori Was Petrified
There was security hanging around with Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori, but apparently this was not the only reason they did not throw hands. The champ says that Marvin was scared because he was not with the normal crew he has with him.
Speaking in a recent interview, Izzy explained that when the two came face to face, Vettori was acting nice, which was very different than the energy he had when they were talking on ESPN earlier in the week. Whereas, he feels like he was keeping the same energy that he had on TV.
“I waved at him and he looked petrified. He kept on looking back, and then I told Steve ‘No I’m not going to do nothing to him. He’s not going to do s—t either,'” Adesanya said.
“I got my COVID test and I went to go check in, and he happened to be there. I walked right up to him and I shook his hand like I did with (Paulo) Costa. Same thing. People think this is a game, this isn’t a game, this is tactics of war. I understand this game, warfare.
“So I went and shook his hand, and same thing like I said in Vegas, he was all smiley smiley. You know why? He didn’t have his crew with him,” Adesanya continued.
“If it was just me by myself, and he had his mob with him, I would’ve kept the same energy but he would’ve switched his energy up and like (growled), because he knew security’s there, his crew’s there, he’d want to do some s—t for the cameras. But nah, I’m a civil guy. When the time for war comes, I’ll take that.”
Given how close their first fight was, it will be interesting to see how the rematch between Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori goes this weekend, at UFC 263. Luckily it was not compromised by the two coming to blows in the hotel lobby beforehand.
