With UFC Vegas 28 in the books, next up is UFC 263: Adesanya vs. Vettori 2 on June 12th from the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona. So of course the UFC took a little time before the big boys took the stage at the top of the Fight Night to promote the middleweight title fight between Izzy and Marvin.
The format? One we’re getting quite used to: an internet video chat ‘moderated’ by Michael Bisping. And we put ‘moderated’ in quotes because even someone as versed in the art of trash talking as “The Count” couldn’t keep Adesanya and Vettori from just going off at each other in what basically devolved into a 10 minute Call of Duty lobby room shouting match.
For us, the highlight of the whole thing was Marvin Vettori dressed up in some floral lion outfit … ridiculous or fashion? You decide. But he certainly out-styled “The Last Stylebender,” who seemed almost bored with Vettori.
“Last time you had hope because one dumb judge gave you that f—king fight, when everyone else knows that you lost that fight,” Adesanya said. “This time I’m going to make sure. You’re going to look at me and gonna realize it’s over. This is it. You can’t beat me.”
“He’s like that crazy ex-girlfriend that you dump and won’t leave you alone, that’ll keep stalking you, scratching your car, come in to your workplace, harassing you, trying to get your attention in every way,” Adesanya added later. “Bro, you’re the Italian wet dream! You ain’t no nightmare. You’re that little ex-lax dump.”
Past funny faces and that adorable romper, Vettori argued that Adesanya was downplaying all his abilities on the feet, something that would come back to haunt him during their fight.
“He’s proving me exactly right with the way that he’s thinking, and I love it that he’s thinking that way,” Vettori said. “Yes, yes, you’re right, my footwork doesn’t work! I’m just going to wrestle you, buddy! I’m going to hang on to a leg and take you down and eventually tear you up. That’s eventually what I’m going to do.”
We’ll see if “The Italian Dream” manages to actually stand with “Stylebender” or if he ends up shooting and wrestling like he did against Kevin Holland in his last fight. It all goes down June 12th.