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Marvin Vettori has never been a fan of his former rival Israel Adesanya. As he waits for a chance to avenge his loss to the Middleweight Champion in 2018, Vettori gave his opinion on Adesanya's latest fight.
In his last outing, Adesanya defeated Yoel Romero in a decision win at UFC 248, defending his 185-pound title for the first time. However, the fight was criticized heavily both by fans and experts for being a dull and insipid affair. In Vettori's opinion, both the fighters were equally responsible for the lack of action, but he thinks the result should have been different in the end.
Vettori talks about Adesanya vs. Romero
The Middleweight contender was unhappy with both Adesanya and Romero's performance, but he thinks the decision should have gone in the latter's favor. Vettori believes Romero needed to gear up from the third round and not let it go into decision, since it was his third and possibly last chance at a title.
"I was disappointed on both sides. I think the fault was on both sides. I actually thought Romero won the fight, but it was very close, and I know these New Zealand guys are unbeatable in decisions. If they go to decisions, they’re unbeatable. What I’m saying is, third title fight, 42 years old, you know the situation, and the strategy was good, but then fourth and fifth, starting from the third, you’ve got to bring it up a little more."
In the aftermath of the fight, many blamed Adesanya for not rising to the occasion and delivering regardless of the opposition. Vettori is of the same opinion. He took a shot at 'The Last Stylebender' for being too scared and not taking enough risks in the fight. Vettori said:
"From Adesanya, I’m seeing just a scared guy, honestly – like, he didn’t want to take risks, and I’ll tell you why: Because Romero was being very good of not reacting to his feints and being very unpredictable, which he always is, but even more, and doing all this weird (expletive), so Adesanya wouldn’t have a lot to build on. Even if it looks like he’s a striker and he does all this weird (expletive), he plays it safe a lot of times, and people fall for this (expletive). But I’ve seen it."
Vettori went on to call out Adesanya for playing it safe by dragging the fight to decision instead of doing something worthwhile. It showed him the "true colors" of Adesanya, claimed Vettori.
"When he has to take some risks there, because Romero was being good at not reacting and stuff, he’s been scared to go fight. He got hit a couple times, and he just acted like a b**ch the whole time, and so that showed me his true colors. That showed me that if there is a need to take risks, he’s not going to take them. He’s going to stay real safe. He knows he’s not going to be finished, and he known he’s not going to be beat by decision.
