UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and his upcoming opponent Marvin Vettori went at it verbally on Thursday ahead of their rematch inside the cage in the main event of UFC 263.
At a pre-fight news conference, Adesanya claimed that Vettori had only fought one wrestler of merit.
“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, and got to No. 3.”
Equally, Vettori levelled a similar charge at the 31-year-old New Zealander.
“You lost against Romero, you lost against me, and then you lost to Blachowicz,” Vettori replied.
“Who you beat? ‘Borrachinha’ who was drunk the night before. That’s who you beat? Wow.”
“Listen, I showed up every single f—ing time, and people can’t make it to the fight with me. That’s not my fault, man,” Vettori continued.
“Whenever I showed up, I beat my opponents. I proved you wrong so many times. You tried to ignore me, b—. You tried to ignore me and here I am, b—.”
“These are all the people that believe into your own bull— ass hype. They’re all going to get shut up.”
The pair will fight for a second time at UFC 263 at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Ariz this Saturday.