UFC heads to the desert this weekend, as Saturday night will feature UFC 263 from the Gila River Arena, in Glendale, Arizona. Two title fights will take place at the top of the card; the headliner is a rematch between Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori, as Adesanya defends his UFC Middleweight belt. Adesanya won the first meeting with Vettori via split decision at UFC on FOX: Poirier vs Gaethje. The co-main event is another championship rematch, as UFC Flyweight champ Deiveson Figueiredo defends his belt against Brandon Moreno. These two fought to a majority draw at UFC 256, which allowed Figueiredo to retain the belt at that time.
Don’t miss the full fight card along with our UFC betting thoughts on the two main tilts.
UFC 263: Adesanya vs Vettori 2 Preview
Main Card (Pay Per View)
Israel Adesanya vs Marvin Vettori (UFC Middleweight Championship)
Deiveson Figueiredo vs Brandon Moreno (UFC Flyweight Championship)
Leon Edwards vs Nate Diaz (Welterweight)
Demian Maia vs Belal Muhammad (Welterweight)
Light Heavyweight (Paul Craig vs Jamahal Hill (Light Heavyweight)
Preliminary Card (ESPN / ESPN+)
Drew Dober vs Brad Riddell (Lightweight)
Eryk Anders vs Darren Stewart (Light Heavyweight)
Lauren Murphy vs Joanne Calderwood (Women’s Flyweight)
Movsar Evloev vs Hakeem Dawodu (Featherweight)
Early Preliminary Card (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass)
Pannie Kianzad vs Alexis Davis (Women’s Bantamweight)
Matt Frevola vs Terrance McKinney (Lightweight)
Chase Hooper vs Steven Peterson (Featherweight)
Fares Ziam vs Luigi Vendramini (Lightweight)
Carlos Felipe vs Jake Collier (Heavyweight)
Israel Adesanya (20-1, 9-1 UFC, -255) vs Marvin Vettori (17-4-1, 7-2-1 UFC, +215) is Adesanya’s latest attempt at keeping the title. When it was time to unify the title against Robert Whittaker, Adesanya put on a clinic, delivering a knockout in the second round. Without a clear contender since then, Adesanya has gone into the wilderness a bit, leading to an ugly, protracted fight against Yoel Romero and an easy victory over Paulo Costa. Then, Adesanya moved to light heavyweight and challenged the new beltholder, Jan Blachowicz. In the cage, Blachowicz waited patiently and delivered bombs for counters. Once Blachowicz was able to get his ground game going, things went against Adesanya relatively quickly. Now he takes on Vettori for the first time in over three years.
In their first fight, Vettori held on against Adesanya, delivering a dominant third round thanks to his wrestling, before things went downhill for him on the cards. He has not lost in his five fights since that matchup, and his style is marked by a constant forward movement, bringing strikes in volume. He had impressive wins over Cezar Ferreira and Andrew Sanchez before a quick victory over Karl Roberson about a year ago. He beat Jack Hermansson in a December main event and then dismantled Kevin Holland two months ago. Vettori will look to get the fight to the ground, but Adesanya should have the defense to keep that from becoming a problem.
Final Prediction:
Adesanya wins via decision
Deiveson Figueiredo (20-1-1, 9-1-1 UFC, -230) vs Brandon Moreno (18-5-2, 6-2-2 UFC, +190) gives Moreno a lot of value given the draw that these two fighters produced their last time out. Figueiredo has gained a reputation in UFC as a purveyor of brutality, such as when he sent Joseph Benavidez down to the mat for a second-round knockout in their fight for the vacant flyweight belt back in February 2020. Because of weight cut issues, Figueiredo did not get the belt. A rematch came in July, and Figueiredo went on the offensive early, making Benavidez run for his life before beating him with a violent choke as the first round wound down.
In their draw, Moreno was able to eat a lot of the punishment that Figueiredo delivered, while bringing enough of his own punishment to stay even on the cards. He made his UFC debut as a last minute substitution against Louis Smolka, and he delivered a surprise upset that vaulted him to contender status. However, Sergio Pettis was able to point out the flaws in Moreno’s technical game, and that loss and another dropped him out of the promotion. He returned with a controversial draw against Askar Askarov. This is Figueiredo’s fight to win or lose, and while Moreno has shown he can absorb punishment, it’s hard to see him lasting five rounds again.
Final Prediction:
Figueiredo wins via stoppage
