UFC: Israel Adesanya leaves talking for ring

Israel Adesanya's fight tomorrow in Arizona will be his second in the UFC. Photo / Photosport

Israel Adesanya has learnt the energy surrounding a mixed martial arts athlete is telling.

Fighters can say anything they want before a bout, but it's how they front up in the ring that tells the true tale.

So while Italian Marvin Vettori, his opponent at the UFC fight night in Arizona tomorrow, had highlighted perceived flaws in Adesanya's style, the Nigeria-born Kiwi wasn't so sure he'd feel that way once inside the octagon.

"He's just putting on a facade," Adesanya said about Vettori's trash talking. "Once I see him and feel his energy, I'll know for real.

"When it comes down to it, you look at me and look at him, it's just different. I'm going to play checkers with him, I'm going to king him."

After making his UFC debut with an emphatic knockout win over Australian Rob Wilkinson in February, Adesanya will look to repeat the dose against Vettori tomorrow.

Adesanya comes in with 12 wins in 12 career MMA fights — all by knockout. The 24-year-old Italian enters the bout with a 12-3-1 record, including 10 first-round wins.

Adesanya goes in with advantages across the board: 5cm in height, 8cm in leg reach and 15cm in hand reach.

For a striker such as Adesanya, that reach advantage could prove too much for Vettori to handle. However, the young Italian wasn't sold on the hype surrounding Adesanya's UFC debut.

"He has a lot of holes in his striking," Vettori told UFC.com.

"He can be dangerous if you let him do what he wants. If you pressure him, he's not that good. He doesn't like getting hit and he can't fight going backwards."

While Vettori has shown he's happy to keep the fight standing, a stand-and-bang showdown would favour Adesanya.

Of Vettori's 12 career wins, only two have been knockouts, with six of his bouts going to a decision.

In his last fight in the UFC, at UFC 219 in Las Vegas late last year, Vettori wore a lot of significant shots in the first two rounds before coming back to earn a majority draw in the third round.

With fellow Kiwi MMA star Dan 'Hangman' Hooker fighting on the same card, Adesanya has already had a first-hand look at how Vettori conducts himself inside the octagon.

"Funny enough, me and Dan were watching that fight and were cracking up back stage. It was just atrocious, the striking, literally atrocious.

"We all know how that's going to turn out if he wants to stand and bang with me and reckons he's got a hard marble head, then cool, I'll be happy to oblige and bang that head up."

After Adesanya's bout in Arizona tomorrow, Hooker is back in the octagon, meeting Jim Miller in Atlantic City next weekend.

Adesanya said it was huge for the pair of them to be fighting on back-to-back weekends, and believed the sport was finally starting to get more recognition in New Zealand.

"The country's getting behind its younger fighters now. Everybody got behind Joseph Parker, which is good, but I think people have realised there is more than one combat sports star in New Zealand."

As for Vettori's comments on his ability, Adesanya was more than happy to let the Italian talk his talk. All that mattered was what happened in the octagon.

"Guys say dumb shit when they're trying to promote a fight, you know, and don't even think about what they're saying," Adesanya said. "For now, they can saw what they want, but the energy never lies."