In the most important event of UFC Saudi -Arabia last night, former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya suffered a shock loss in the hands of Nassourdine Imavov.
It was not necessarily a bad performance of 'The Last Stylebender', which won the first round on all three score cards from the jury members before being caught in the second by a stunning about -hand.
Although there are calls for Israel Adesanya to withdraw from the sport, there are many fans who would like to see that the popular former champion continues to compete under the UFC banner – including one of his most iconic former enemies.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty images
Marvin Vettori makes a hilarious thing for trilogy fight vs Israel Adesanya
Israel Adesanya has already gone to social media to share his immediate response to the surprise UFC Saudi Aarabia Ko, and acknowledges that he will take some time away to recover from his third consecutive loss in the Octagon.
Every time Adesanya returns, he will probably have to win two or three fights before he is back in the UFC title conflict; And it did not take long before 'Stylebender' is called by one of his former championship rivals.
“The only chance of Adesanya to win a fight is to fight me lol,” wrote the popular Italian middleweight Marvin Vettori on X, a joke in a later report that “Adesanya Power was his dog Weiner imo lol.”
Adesanya is currently 2-0 above 'The Italian Dream', after he has defeated the outspoken competition through a split decision in 2018, and a unanimous decision in the main event of UFC 263 in June 2021.
Since that loss for Adesanya, Vettori has experienced a stop-start run in the UFC, and earned victories over Paulo Costa and Roman Dolidze, but dropped the results to Robert Whittaker and Jared Cannonier.
Back to Adesanya who was advised on the press conference after the fight by both Dana White and opponent Nassourdine Imavov to keep fighting and not hanging the gloves.
'He is in really good condition and I think he should continue to fight, and he will be that [back] For winning fights, “Imavov encouraged, who has now set his sights on the title of the UFC Middleweight.
“Listen, being caught is caught; He is 35, Imavov is 28 years old and in his Prime, “said Dana White, adding that Adesanya looked incredible [and] He could not have fought a better first round than he did. '
Marvin Vettori stands for Roman Kopylov – No, Dolidze – Return Fight in March
After more than 18 months on the sidelines, the UFC-backing of Marvin Vettori is planned for the main event of a Fight Night Card on March 15 against 14-3 Georgian, Roman Dolidze.
Vettori had previously been brought to social media to make jokes that he had prepared instead for 14-3 Russian middleweight Roman Kopylov; And had gotten the two names confused.
“Lol all the time I thought it was Roman Kopylov, but it's actually Roman Dolidze,” he wrote on X last week and added “all good, different last name, the same result.”
The Italian is a moderate favorite to win that fight, with about 69% of the tapology users who predict a Vettori win; The 'Italian dream' has already defeated Dolidze – a unanimous decision on UFC 286 in March 2023.
The Georgian succeeded that loss by dropping a majority decision to UFC Saudi Aarabia striking Imavov, although since then he achieved two impressive victories in Anthony Smith and Kevin Holland.
The only other fight that was officially confirmed on 15 March for that event is a flying weight between Daniel Barez and Andre Lima – more fighting will be confirmed in the following weeks.
Can Marvin Vettori return to the profit column and possibly set up a trilogy fight against Israel Adesanya? Discover on March 18 for UFC Fight Night: Vettori vs Dolidze 2.
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