Israel Adesanya has shared some advice with Marvin Vettori on how to bounce back from defeat after suffering the fifth loss of his career on Saturday night.
Vettori (17-5) had spent the entire week in the build-up to the main event at UFC 263 claiming that he would become the first man to dethrone the UFC middleweight champion.
However, in the end, Adesanya (21-1) proved that there are levels to this game, as he scored a unanimous decision victory over 'The Italian Dream'.
All three judges at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona had it 50-45, 50-45 and 50-45 in favour of 'The Last Stylebender', who showcased an array of skills to defend his 185lbs belt for the third time on Saturday.
Despite this, Vettori appeared reluctant to admit defeat at first, as he was initially vocal in objecting to the scorecards. Adesanya, however, was having none of it, as he told his rival to swallow his pride and accept defeat.
“I don’t know because even at the end of the fight, I was like, ‘You can at least say I won that one,'” Adesanya said at the UFC post-fight press conference. “He’s like, ‘What? This one? This one?’ I was like, ‘Are you serious? I won that.’
"I’m like, ‘Oh, no. We can’t. We can’t.’ Eric Cartman mentality, man. You’ve got to believe your own bullsh*t, sometimes.
"He said I believe my own hype? But wow, after that, who’s believing their own hype?”
Adesanya knows a thing or two about bouncing back from defeat, having previously come up short against Jan Blachowicz when he challenged for the UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 259 in March.
The result marked the first loss of Adesanya's professional career.
“After my last fight, I won’t say who, but certain people thought I won that fight,” he added. “Certain people in my camp thought I won that fight but I was just like, ‘Nah, it was close, but I’ll take the ‘L’ from that one and I will grow. I will learn.’
"If I wanted to have his mentality, I’d hold onto that. I’d keep going after Jan and it’s so stupid. That’s not how you grow.
"How you grow is you learn from your mistakes. You go back to the drawing board and you improve. You become better from them.
"‘Ls’ are a part of life. Losses make you better.”
While Adesanya insists he still dislikes Vettori, he did offer him some counsel.
He continued: “I don’t know where this whole mentality comes from that, ‘Oh, you took a loss, and now you’re over.’ Nah, it’s part of life. Take it and let it improve you.
“My advice to him would be to look yourself in the mirror tonight – maybe not tonight. Give it a week. Let things settle down.
"Look at yourself in the mirror and be like, ‘Look, Israel is better than you. Israel is better than you. Izzy is way better than you. You couldn’t do shit to him, but I’m going to get better from this.’
"I swear to you, his next fight will improve if he does the work right. But you’ve got to let it go. You’ve got to let it go.”
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