UFC 263 featured two title matches and one additional super-fight. Israel Adesanya defended his middleweight title against Marvin Vettori, while Deiveson Figueiredo lost the rematch with Brandon Moreno in the flyweight belt bout. That one match we’ve mentioned which isn’t for the title was a welterweight clash between Leon Edwards and Nate Diaz.
Adesanya came back to the middleweight division after his adventure in the light heavyweight category, where he lost to the champion, Jan Blachowicz. He faced another incredibly tough rival, the Italian Dream, as the fans call Marvin Vettori.
These two guys already met once before, in 2018, and Adesanya won, yet after a very tough battle and a split decision. We saw in that bout, that Vettori knows how not just to handle Adesanya’s attacks but to hit back as well and hurt the Last Stylebender.
Though, Izzy was a huge favorite here according to the UFC betting odds, with his win sitting at 4/9 at the moment. On the other side, Vettori was 2/1 to dethrone the Kiwi. A draw here is 50/1. The chances to see all five rounds 8/11 are similar to the ones for the opposite outcome, 9/10. But for those who believe that we were going to see a KO, the odds were, Adesanya 7/4, Vettori 12/1.
The Italian is a stubborn guy, who isn’t afraid to eat a few punches, but once he reaches the rival, it isn’t pleasant at all. Plus, he has a lot of motive to avenge the previous defeat against Izzy, because many believe that the judges made a mistake scoring in Adesanya’s favor.
Another rematch guaranteed excitement. Just a few championship bouts in the UFC history ended with a draw. One of them was Figueiredo vs. Moreno from December 13. The God of War kept his belt following a majority draw, in one of the best fights of that year.
Figueiredo came into this battle as a massive favorite, 4/9, while the challenger’s win was priced at 2/1. A draw here was slightly lower than for the above-mentioned clash, 40/1. The bookmakers expected to see all five rounds, with the odds for the fight going to the distance at 8/11. The opposite ending, that was before the final horn, is at 21/20. To be honest, we believe in Figueiredo’s swift victory, and him finishing the match before Round 3 was 10/4, but that did not work out in his favor.
It appeared that the champion underestimated Moreno in their first meeting and also in this meeting, and knowing that his ego was a bit damaged after an unexpected struggle back then. He wanted to keep the reputation of a ferocious champ, and that is why the God of War needed to make a statement by quickly solving Moreno, however the opposite was true and Moreno figured out the Brazilian.
And finally, the match between Leon Edwards and Nate Diaz was something that most fans anxiously awaited. These two guys are big showmen, and trash talkers who often spice up the tension before the event. It wasn’t any different this time.
Edwards’ win here was, according to the bookies, a certain thing, 1/5. Diaz to post a victory was valued 4/1, and a draw 50/1. The odds to see all five rounds are very long, 3/1, as many believed to see Edwards knocking out Diaz before the end. Odds on that were 2/7. We want to remind you that the American stood as a similar underdog in his first fight with Conor McGregor but eventually made a massive surprise, and we guaranteed that the offer for his KO win in this one would intrigue you – 26/5.
Despite Edwards being one of the biggest contenders for the welterweight title match, underestimating Diaz would be a massive mistake.
