‘Show us your butt crack’: Israel Adesanya, Marvin Vettori send UFC 263 press conference off the rails

Danny Segura and Ken Hathaway
·2 min read
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PHOENIX – UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori held nothing back Thursday.

The two fighters, who meet in a rematch at UFC 263, engaged in a heated back-and-fort that dominated the pre-event news conference. The champion questioned Vettori’s resume, saying he’s not worthy of the title shot given the type of opponents he’s beaten during a five-fight winning streak that’s led him here.

“Like I said, look at the list of who he’s fought. The only person I know in that list is Jack Hermansson,” Adesanya said. “He only got here because he fought a bum at No. 10, he was No. and got to No. 3.”

It didn’t take long for Vettori, who dropped a split decision in their first fight in 2018, to fire back using the same tactics. Vettori also questioned some of Adesanya’s losses and close wins.

“You lost against Romero, you lost against me, and then you lost to Blachowicz,” Vettori said. “Who you beat? ‘Borrachinha’ who was drunk the night before. That’s who you beat? Wow.”

And the Nigerian champion answered right back.

“Name three top-10 opponents who you’ve beat,” Adesanya said. “Exactly, you ain’t got sh*t.”

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Vettori, who feels like he’s been dodged many times in the division, let Adesanya know he’s been fighting everyone the UFC has put in front of him.

“Listen, I showed up every single f*cking time, and people can’t make it to the fight with me. That’s not my fault, man,” Vettori said. “Whenever I showed up, I beat my opponents. I proved you wrong so many times. You tried to ignore me, b*tch. You tried to ignore me and here I am, b*tch.”

“These are all the people that believe into your own bullsh*t ass hype. They’re all going to get shut up.”

You can watch highlights of Adesanya and Vettori’s exchanges in the video above.

UFC 263 takes place Saturday at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Ariz. The main card streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view followed by prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.