‘My Dream is to Bring the UFC to Italy’- Marvin Vettori Has Big Plans After UFC 263

UFC middleweight Marvin Vettori will rematch the current champion Israel Adesanya on June 12, in a fight that is 3 years in the making. Since losing to Adesanya the first time, Marvin Vettori has racked up five straight wins to earn a rematch.

If Vettori becomes the first man to defeat Adesanya at middleweight, he will go down as the first UFC champion from Italy. Unlike U.K. and Ireland, the MMA representation from Italy has been lacking. When talking to Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole, Marvin Vettori revealed his plans to become the marquee figure for Italian MMA.

“I think after I became champion, [MMA in Italy] will get even more [attention] and it will become a more mainstream thing. The movement of MMA in Italy, things are moving slow, to be honest… But definitely with me being the champion, there’s going to be more people that will know about the sport… I’ll do my best to push the movement. One of my dreams is also to bring the UFC to Italy, so, I’m going to campaign for that.”

“I feel like the amateur Olympic movement for boxing is more developed. Not many people want to go pro, I feel like even in boxing. In MMA, it’s starting… Definitely not like U.K. or U.S., but it will happen. I’ll do my best to make it happen as soon as possible.”

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Does Marvin Vettori have the tools to dethrone ‘The Last Stylebender’?

Israel Adesanya comes into his fight against Marvin Vettori off a loss to Jan Blachowicz that came in March 2021. The Polish light heavyweight fighter landed key takedowns on Adesanya. And, in some people’s eyes, he laid out the blueprint to defeat Adesanya.

Marvin Vettori will definitely look toward this performance as it plays to his strengths. UFC fans got a glimpse of this in his previous fight.

Although the fight wasn’t particularly exciting, Marvin Vettori put forth a dominant wrestling display against Kevin Holland. He will look to repeat his success against Adesanya, who suffered a hit to his takedown defense rate. Many believe that the fight will be decided in grappling range so long as ‘The Italian Dream’ can force the issue.

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