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Betting odds for Israel Adesanya vs. Marvin Vettori for UFC 263 have been released.
After it was recently announced that 'The Last Stylebender' will defend his middleweight belt against Marvin Vettori at UFC 263 on June 12, 'Bet Online' released the opening odds for the fight.
Unsurprisingly, Israel Adesanya opened as the -230 favorite, while Marvin Vettori is +195 underdog.
In simple terms, this means that you can bet $230 on the champion, and if he successfully retains his title, you will win $100 from the bet. However, if you bet $100 on Marvin Vettori, you will stand to win $195 if the 'Italian Dream' walks away with the championship.
Why did Marvin Vettori get a fight with Israel Adesanya ahead of Robert Whittaker?
Israel Adesanya is returning to middleweight after an unsuccessful attempt at winning the light heavyweight belt against Jan Blachowicz. He last fought at 185 pounds in September 2020 when he knocked out Paulo Costa in the second round at UFC 253 to retain his belt.
With Izzy's return to middleweight, it was assumed by the MMA community that former champion Robert Whittaker would be the one to get a shot at the title, being the top contender and winning thrice fights since dropping the title in 2019.
However, UFC president Dana White recently revealed on The Bill Simmons Podcast that they were going for third-ranked Marvin Vettori first, who is currently on a five-fight winning streak.
"It looks like Rob Whittaker, who just fought on Saturday night, isn’t going to be ready to fight Israel Adesanya at the time Israel Adesanya wants to fight, so it’ll probably be Marvin Vettori first," Dana White said. [Via: Yahoo! Sports]
ESPN's Ariel Helwani later cleared up on Twitter why Marvin Vettori was getting the opportunity to fight Israel Adesanya ahead of Robert Whittaker. Helwani reported that the UFC had approached Whittaker first, but the latter had a five-rounder fight only last week (April 17) against Kelvin Gastelum and would be unfit to compete on June 12.
Whittaker would also have to quarantine for two weeks at home, rendering it impossible for him to get back to training in time for the fight. Meanwhile, Israel Adesanya insisted he wanted a fight on the said date, which is why the UFC decided to go with Marvin Vettori instead. Robert Whittaker will get his chance at UFC gold against the winner of the UFC 263 title bout sometime later in the year.
