UFC president Dana White has officially confirmed that the next opponent for 185-pound champion Israel Adesanya will be Italian middleweight Marvin Vettori. Their fight is scheduled for June 12th at UFC 263, which will feature another rematch between Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno.
Recall that the fighters have already met in the octagon in the spring of 2018. Vettori managed to impose a competitive confrontation on the future champion, but in the end he lost by a split decision.
UFC president Dana White recently revealed the promotion was leaning in the direction of Vettori over Whittaker, as the former champion would not be ready in time.
“It’s looking 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 on “The Bill Simmons Podcast. ”
According to the ESPN report, Whittaker will fight the winner of Adesanya vs. Vettori.
Marvin is currently on a five-win streak, beating fighters such as Cezar Ferreira, Andrew Sanchez, Karl Roberson, Jack Hermansson and most recently Kevin Holland.
As for Adesanya, in his last fight, the New Zealander suffered his first professional defeat in MMA, losing to light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz, who managed to take the fight thanks to successful takedowns.
The latest UFC 263 lineup now includes:
Champion Israel Adesanya vs. Marvin Vettori – for middleweight title
Champion Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Brandon Moreno – for flyweight title
Jake Collier vs. Carlos felipe
Luigi Vendramini vs. Fares Ziam
Hakeem Dawodu vs. Movsar Evloev
Sijara Eubanks vs. Karol Rosa
Paul Craig vs. Jamahal hill
Joanne Calderwood vs. Lauren murphy
Demian Maia vs. Belal muhammad
Frank Camacho vs. Matt frevola
Drew Dober vs. Brad riddell