“I live free rent in your head”

Marvin Vettori is confident he will have a title shot against current middleweight champion Israel Adesanya soon.

The two fought back in 2018 in the second fight of Israel Adesanya’s UFC career. Marvin Vettori lost via split decision in what is widely considered the closest fight ‘The Last Stylebender’ had in the promotion to this day.

Israel Adesanya provoked Marvin Vettori while talking to Daniel Cormier in a UFC show after the weigh-ins ahead of his light heavyweight title fight with Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259 this Saturday.

Talking about UFC middleweight fighters who could potentially have a claim to his title, ‘The Last Stylebender’ said referring to Marvin Vettori:

“What’s his name? The Italian.”

Not long after, Vettori used his social media to send a straight answer to Adesanya.

“First they ignore you, second they discredit you, then they play games. I live free rent in your head. Soon you will have nowhere to run. I’m waiting for you boy, Israel Adesanya,” wrote Marvin Vettori on his Twitter account.

‘The Italian Dream,’ who is No. 5 in the middleweight rankings, is booked to fight No. 4 Darren Till on April 10. Vettori’s last fight happened in December 2020, when he stepped in at the last minute to replace Kevin Holland against Jack Hermansson.

Marvin Vettori’s claim to the UFC middleweight title

Marvin Vettori made one of the biggest leaps in the UFC rankings after beating Jack Hermansson at UFC Vegas 16 last year. He was upgraded to No. 5 – seven positions more than his last ranking.

The fight between Marvin Vettori and Hermansson broke the UFC record for most significant strikes landed in a middleweight bout. The Italian was declared the winner via unanimous decision.

The win marked the fourth consecutive victory in Marvin Vettori’s UFC journey. His last defeat was to current weight class champion Israel Adesanya in 2018.

Vettori still believes that he should have had his arms raised instead of ‘The Last Stylebender’ at the end of that bout. He said in an interview with MMA Junkie:

“People can say whatever they want about my fight. I have my opinions. He has his opinions. People have their opinions, … but whoever won that fight, and the judges – one gave it to me, two gave it to him – whoever, even him, is he happy with what happened in that fight? Did it really go down like it was supposed to go down? Did anybody really come out on top, like saying, ‘I beat the other guy?”