Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori are getting ready to make one of the most memorable matches this year, with the two clashing in the middleweight division title bout. These fighters have already met once before, back in 2018, and back then, that match raised a lot of controversies. Adesanya won after a split decision, but to be perfectly honest, it wouldn’t be unfair if Vettori ended on the winning side. The Italian is so far the only middleweight fighter to restrain Izzy, and put him in trouble.
BetXChange is here to deliver a preview of this event, so stick for five minutes and explore our analysis.
Preview
Adesanya is the absolute ruler of the middleweight division. He tried to become one of few fighters to unify two divisions, but Jan Blachowicz denied his effort with a unanimous decision victory. It was the first loss Izzy suffered in his career.
But, that can’t and won’t erase his previous dominance, which is the least to say, impressive. Just remember how he stripped Robert Whittaker off of his title, or how he smashed Paulo Costa recently. In his resume, Adesanya has pretty much all the relevant middleweight names, among others, Anderson Silva, Derek Brunson, Kelvin Gastelum, Yoel Romero, etc.
Once he enters the zone (and that is too often), Adesanya is unstoppable. He calmly waits for the rival to make his move before countering. A long reach and incredibly fast reaction allows him to hurt the opponents from the toughest possible positions, and to often post some highlight-reel moments.
Marvin Vettori is one of the most intimidating persons in the UFC. He is always nervous, aggressive, and tense. “Angry Marvin” some would say. We saw him at various weigh-ins or press conferences making all sorts of shows, and free to say that this guy looks scary.
After losing to Adesanya, he went on a five-match winning spree, beating Cezar Ferreira, Andrew Sanchez, Karl Roberson, Jack Hermanson, and Kevin Holland, in his latest bout on April 10.
Vettori knows to fight in both stand-up and on the ground, which was one of the ways how he overpowered Adesanya in the first meeting. He is also a guy with an extremely tough chin, which enables him always to go forward and pressure the rival. All four losses in his career were via decision, while on the other side, Vettori has 9 submission wins, 6 by decision, and two by a knockout.
Previous Match
Izzy and Vettori met on April 14, 2018, at UFC on Fox: Poirier vs. Gaethje, also in Arizona. It was a very close match, with both guys giving everything they have, and with Adesanya winning via split decision, which was very controversial at the time. Izzy was inferior on the ground in the late stage of the fight, with Vettori completely dominating in those moments.
Prediction and Pick
First of all, we are not going to propose to bet on the winner here, but on the fight going to the distance. Only one of Vettori’s last nine battles didn’t end like that, and five of Izzy’s most recent eight battles also concluded in the same manner. Check out the odds for that and many more at BetXChange.com.
Pick: Fight to go to the distance
