Israel Adesanya laid a spanking on Marvin Vettori Saturday night at UFC 263 — literally.
Adesanya beat Vettori via unanimous decision to retain his UFC middleweight title. In typical fashion, he gave the crowd a show with some playful taunts.
“Vintage me,” Adesanya said. “Having fun. I did have fun in there, I’ll say that.”
In a viral moment at the end of the fourth round, Adesanya humiliated Vettori by spanking and grabbing his backside as Vettori had him against the fence, attempting a takedown.
MOOD @StyleBender #UFC263 pic.twitter.com/sV4ArnLURn
— Ronen Rubinstein 🧜🏼♂️ (@RonenRubinstein) June 13, 2021
Adesanya wasn’t done mocking Vettori, pretending to be hurt by a tired flurry at the end of the fifth round.
Israel Adesanya at the end 😅 #UFC263 pic.twitter.com/vbx0CQNvEI
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 13, 2021
After the fight, the two shook hands and seemed close to reconciling, only for Adesanya to turn away and roll his eyes, later claiming that Vettori told him that he won despite the result from the judges.
“You can keep thinking that,” Adesanya said in his postfight interview. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
“Right after the fight, I thought I won,” Vettori said. “I thought I won and he’s like ‘no, you didn’t win.’ He was like ‘at the end of the day, respect, we don’t like each other but respect’ and I said you know what, we share the octagon for eight rounds now, for 40 minutes basically. At the end of the day, you’ve got to give some props.”
It was the second victory in as many fights for Adesanya over Vettori. In April 2018, he won by split decision in a fight that Vettori also believed he had won. The two traded barbs during Thursday’s pre-fight news conference, with Vettori having to be restrained after he went after Adesanya.
In the third round of Saturday’s match, Vettori was able to get a takedown, but Adesanya managed to get on top, ending the threat.
“I swear to god. I saw [Marvin Vettori’s] soul leave his eyes. I saw it. I said to him, ‘You’re sacred, aren’t you? You’re scared, aren’t you?’ … I felt very powerful in that moment, just taking his soul away.”
Israel Adesanya recalled the moment he believes he broke Marvin Vettori 🥶 #UFC263 pic.twitter.com/w1Jhh4TuDY
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) June 13, 2021
UFC president Dana White praised Vettori after the fight, but admitted that Adesanya was just too athletic for him.
“Vettori is a tank, man,” White said in the postfight news conference. “The guy is so tough, durable. The amount of leg kicks he took tonight and never buckled, never limped. He was in there with a much better athlete tonight.”
After the match, Adesanya was asked by commentator Joe Rogan what his next fight would be, and Adesanya — to the crowd’s delight — didn’t mince his words.
“My arch nemesis, what’s his name … Whittaker [Robert Whittaker]. Bobby Knuckles. I knocked him out twice,” Adesanya told Rogan. “I don’t know what the f*** is going to happen with this covid s***, but we need to run that back in Auckland. We need to run that back in my territory this time. I’ll tell you when it is. You don’t get to decide, I get to decide. Because why? I’m the m***** f******* king b****”
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Source: Dailywire
