— Israel Adesanya rotated his right hand and cupped it near his ear, a gesture that pro wrestling legend Hulk Hogan used to elicit cheers from the crowd.
With the victory, Adesanya successfully defended his UFC middleweight title.
Adesanya and Vettori were vicious in verbal attacks on Thursday at the prefight news conference, with Vettori having to be physically removed from the stage after he went after Adesanya.
That seemed to be a positive development for Vettori, who was looking to put Adesanya, a dominant kickboxer, on his back.
Adesanya was extremely hard to hit, and when Vettori did find him, Adesanya almost always fired back with a combination or a kick or both.
“Vettori is a tank, man,” UFC president Dana White said in the postfight news conference.
Adesanya, 31, was coming off a loss to Jan Blachowicz in a UFC light heavyweight title fight at UFC 259 on March 6.
Vettori, 27, was coming off a unanimous decision win over Kevin Holland in April and was attempting to become the first Italian-born fighter to win a UFC title.