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In the main event title fight at middleweight for UFC 263, Israel Adesanya will fight Marvin Vettori Saturday live from Glendale, AZ and available on ESPN+ PPV.
The 31-year-old Adesanya enters the octagon with a professional fighting record of 20-1 and is the champion of the middleweight division. He’s also ranked fourth in the men’s pound-for-pound rankings. The Nigerian mixed martial artist last fought at UFC 259 earlier this year, where he lost to Jan Blachowicz by unanimous decision. It was Adesanya’s first defeat of his professional career.
“The Last Stylebender” will look to get back into the win column with his striking ability. He averages 3.95 strikes per minute, with an accuracy of 49 percent. But the 6-foot-4 fighter absorbs 2.63 strikes per minute and defends against them at 61 percent. Out of his 20 wins, 15 of them have come by KO/TKO.
Vettori walks into Saturday night’s main event with a professional fighting record of 17-4-1 and ranked third in the middleweight division. “The Italian Dream” Vettori last fought at UFC on ABC 2 in April, where he defeated Kevin Holland by unanimous decision. The veteran fighter has won five straight bouts, including four by unanimous decision.
Vettori will try to use both his striking and grappling skills to pull the upset over Adesanya. The 27-year-old averages 4.78 significant strikes per minute, with an accuracy of 45 percent. However, Vettori also takes a lot of strikes in return at 3.19 per minute, which is higher than his opponent. But he does do a good job defending against strikes from opposing fighters at 66%. As for grappling, “The Italian Dream” has a 1.33 takedown average, along with 45% accuracy. Meanwhile, he possesses a takedown average of 0.85 with a defense at 78%.
Here are the betting odds at DraftKings Sportsbook for Isael Adesanya vs. Marvin Vettori at UFC 263 on June 12.
Money line odds
Isael Adesanya: -250
Marvin Vettori: +200
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