This weekend, UFC returns to Arizona, USA for the first time in over two years with UFC 263: ADESANYA VS VETTORI 2.
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UFC returns to Arizona in the USA for the first time in over two years with UFC 263, which will witness an exciting encounter between Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori. Fans will be welcomed back to the sold-out Gila River Arena in Glendale, with the massive card topped by a pair of highly anticipated UFC world championship bouts. The main event will however be the face-off between UFC world middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori in a rematch almost 3 years in the making. This will be followed by UFC world flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo taking on Brandon Moreno in a rematch, which will mark the co-main event. The two men fought to a draw at UFC 256. It was arguably the most exciting fight in the history of the flyweight division.
Not only this, third-ranked welterweight Leon Edwards will welcome back fan favourite Nate Diaz in a 5-round bout. It will be the first instance in UFC history of a non-title bout or main event being scheduled for five rounds. Last but not the least, there will be a welterweight contest of styles pits grappler versus striker when Demian Maia takes on Belal Muhammad, with light heavyweights Paul Craig facing off against Jamahal Hill in a fight to break into the top ten.
Adesanya (20-1, fighting out of Auckland, New Zealand) returns to his natural weight class. He will be looking to defend his title for the third time. He is considered one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, having joined the UFC roster in 2018. The fighter will look to improve on his 2018 win over Vettori, having recorded impressive triumphs over Paulo Costa, Robert Whittaker and Anderson Silva. A win could well go a long way in his quest to become the greatest middleweight in UFC history.
Vettori will look to make the most of his first UFC title shot. He will become the first middleweight to beat Adesanya, in case of a triumph. Undefeated since his split decision loss to the current middleweight champion in 2018, Vettori climbed through the ranks with dominant wins over Karl Roberson, Jack Hermansson and Kevin Holland. The fighter will now look to record the biggest win of his career, with a brilliant performance.
“I wasn’t too excited about this fight because I didn’t think he deserved to be in cage with me,” said Adesanya, who successfully defended the middleweight title twice in 2020 as quoted by the UFC’s official website.
“If you look at the list of people he’s fought since we fought, and the list of people I’ve fought, it’s vastly different. So I wasn’t (excited about this fight) until I saw Kamaru (Usman) take care of Jorge (Masvidal) twice. That inspired me like, ‘Right, I need to silence this guy and let him know that it’s over, there is no doubt that I’m the better fighter and that’s it, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
It will be interesting to note the winner of this exciting bout.
