Israel Adesanya defeated Marvin Vettori by unanimous decision for the middleweight championship in the main event of UFC 263 from Glendale, Arizona. The final scoring was 50-45, 50-45, 50-45.
“I’m the motherf—— king, b—-.” Adesanya said after the fight when interviewed by Joe Rogan.
The victory is the 10th straight win for Adesanya within the division. Saturday night’s win was Adesanya’s third successful defense of his middleweight title. He has yet to lose at 185 pounds and is ranked third on ESPN’s pound-for-pound men’s MMA fighter list.
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The fight was a rematch of their 2018 bout, in which Adesanya won by a split decision. The fight was one of the most challenging in Adesanya’s career and Vettori still claims he should have won the fight.
In the time since their last meeting, Vettori has been undefeated, winning his last five fights, and last beating Kevin Holland in April by unanimous decision. On the other hand, Adesanya lost to Jan Blachowicz in March after moving up a weight class for the bout.
Earlier in the night, Leon Edwards defeated Nate Diaz via unanimous decision and Brandon Moreno defeated Deiveson Figueiredo via third-round submission to become the first Mexican-born UFC champion.
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