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Michael Bisping believes Marvin Vettori would be UFC middleweight champion if not for reigning king Israel Adesanya.
While he may not be everyone's cup of tea from a personality standpoint, Marvin Vettori is one of the finest fighters on the planet when he's at his best. The Italian has put together some memorable performances inside the octagon. In his last fight against Paulo Costa, he showcased the kind of heart that reaffirms why he's such an elite competitor.
The direction he heads in next is still somewhat unknown but given where he's come from, the sky is surely the limit for what he can achieve.
In a recent Q&A session, former middleweight king Michael Bisping spoke highly of Marvin Vettori and where he ranks him amongst current 185-pounders.
“If it wasn’t for Israel Adesanya right now, he’d [Marvin Vettori] be the champ, definitely. He’s the next best guy at 185 in my opinion, he’s doing tremendous things. I’m a friend of Marvin’s, I think he’s tremendous. That fight he had against Paulo Costa was sensational. I called that fight, I was right there, he won that fight fair and square but Paulo Costa had a lot of success and some of the shots that Marvin ate, some of those kicks and punches and the power that Costa has, Marvin took every single f***ing one of them. Never took a backwards step and fired right back every single time. It was a really inspiring performance. I was already a fan but after that I was like wow, this guy is incredible, man.”
Catch the UFC commentator's comments here:
What happened when Marvin Vettori fought Israel Adesanya?
Back in April 2018, Marvin Vettori lost to Israel Adesanya in a result that he still contests to this day as not being the right call. Then, three years later, they met at UFC 263 - this time for the UFC middleweight championship.
It was on that night that we saw the true gulf in quality between Marvin Vettori and Israel Adesanya. 'The Last Stylebender' pitched a complete shutout of the challenger.
He was efficient, direct and didn't even really allow Vettori to get going.
The big question now, though, is whether he'd be able to do it for a third time if we ever see the trilogy come to fruition. If Vettori keeps racking up wins, it surely has to happen eventually.
