The bad blood brewing between Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori over the past few weeks reached a blazing crescendo as the two headliners ramped up a heated war of words during Thursday's UFC 263 pre-fight press conference.
Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori constantly interrupted each other during the Q&A. The tension in the atmosphere often paved the way for shouting matches, making much of the press conference incoherent. At one point, UFC president Dana White and other officials had to step in to stop the situation from becoming a physical altercation.
In the recently released UFC 263: Embedded vlog, Israel Adesanya's manager Ash Belcastro spoke on the matter. He was confident that the UFC middleweight champion had managed to get under his opponent's skin by triggering him with his comments. He added that a lot more is happening right now surrounding the rivalry than just a fight inside the cage.
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"The build-up of the whole press conference and then that kinda kick off at the end... I think Israel's definitely under his skin and it's really interesting to see every time Israel brings up certain things really, it really fires him right up. So, I think that's the first part of the battle, which is, you know, a lot of mind games and a lot more happening than just the fight," Ash Belcastro said.
As Ash Belcastro spoke, Israel Adesanya was seen taking a dip in the swimming pool and laughing at the events of the press conference earlier.
Israel Adesanya: I got exactly what I wanted
'The Last Stylebender' mirrored his manager's comment by claiming that getting under Marvin Vettori's nerves and into his head is exactly what he had in mind. Adesanya is confident that he executed his mental warfare to perfection.
"I got exactly what I wanted, and with a guy like this, it's so easy - it's so easy. He can cautiously try not to fall for my tricks, but subconsciously he's going to because that's just who he is. And it's not going to change in the next two days, Israel Adesanya said.
Watch the full UFC 263: Embedded Episode 6 below.
Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori will face each other in the main event of UFC 263 on Saturday, June 12, at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.