Here are Jack Green's UFC picks for Israel Adesanya v Marvin Vettori at UFC 263. Visit the Betway Insider for picks on all the biggest fights.

Adesanya v Vettori odds

One of the most popular champions in the UFC steps into the Octagon on Saturday night as Israel Adesanya defends his middleweight title against Marvin Vettori.

Adesanya last fought on 6 March as he stepped up to challenge Jan Blachowicz for the light heavyweight belt. The Nigerian-born New Zealander lost a unanimous decision, and now drops back down to defend his title at his natural weight.

Adesanya is undefeated in 20 career fights at middleweight and won his first nine UFC fights to take the title and then successfully defend it on two occasions.

At 31 years of age, Adesanya is a fan favourite thanks to his exciting fighting style and entertaining interviews, and he’s also one of the most dominant champions in the promotion after seeing off some huge names at middleweight.

His opponent in Glendale, Arizona on Saturday is Vettori, who lost a split decision to Adesanya back in April 2018.

Vettori has won five consecutive fights since that defeat, and most recently outpointed Kevin Holland on 10 April to set up this rematch.

The Italian is a volume striker and an excellent wrestler with nine career submission wins in 22 fights, although eight of his last nine fights have gone the distance.

Vettori is currently the underdog to gain revenge take the belt on Saturday night.

Adesanya, meanwhile, is the favourite to get back to winning ways.

Adesanya v Vettori prediction

The first meeting of these fighters gave us a slight glimpse weakness in Adesanya, as Vettori won the third round by bullying ‘The Last Stylebender’ with wrestling and hard counters.

It wasn’t enough for the Italian to earn the win, and Adesanya’s defensive wrestling has certainly improved, but we’ve since seen a couple of other fighters stymie the champion’s free-flowing style by making him wary of big strikes.

He looked unwilling to pull the trigger in a largely uneventful title defence against Yoel Romero in March 2020, and was comfortably beaten when Blachowicz sat back, waited for openings and used his power advantage.

Adesanya is better when he can fight on the back foot, and that will likely be his approach on Saturday night as Vettori likes to aggressively push forward.

The 27-year-old doesn’t really have the power to hurt Adesanya, having only won two fights by knockout in his career, so he’ll be desperate to take the champion down to the mat.

Adesanya is used to facing that kind of threat, however, and will be right in his comfort zone when backpedalling and picking Vettori off at range.

He may get taken down once or twice, but the champ will likely dominate for most of this fight and secure a comfortable win on points against his durable opponent.

Adesanya to win by decision

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