Adesanya (20-1) defeated Vettori via split decision in April 2018. Adesayna, 31, lost his most recent fight against light heavyweight champ Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259 on March 6 in Las Vegas. That did not affect his status as middleweight champion.
Vettori (17-4-1), a 27-year-old Italian, has won his past five bouts, including a defeat of Kevin Holland on April 10.
White told ESPN that the Adesanya-Vettori winner will next face former champion Robert Whittaker.
The location of UFC 263 is yet to be confirmed, but will also feature Adesanya s City Kickboxing teammate Brad Riddell against American Drew Dober.
The co-main event is a flyweight world title fight between Deiveson Figureido and Brandon Moreno.
That was the last time Vettori had tasted defeat, and he was confident it would be a different story if they were to meet again. Earlier this month Vettori put his name onto the list of potential challengers to Adesanya s UFC middleweight crown after recording his fifth-straight victory. Vettori (17-4-1) landed a division-record 11 takedowns on the way to a lopsided unanimous decision win over Kevin Holland (21-7) in Las Vegas on April 11. Vettori, who has the second-longest win streak in the division behind Adesanya (nine), was in a confident mood following his victory over Holland and stated he should be considered first-in-line to fight the New Zealander.
UFC: Israel Adesanya's defence of middleweight title against Marvin Vettori set for UFC 263 nzherald.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nzherald.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Report: Diego Ferreira to face Gregor Gillespie on May UFC card
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Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Gregor Gillespie will apparently be making his long-awaited return to the cage on May 8th. Following a Covid scare on the day of his March fight with Brad Riddell that led to the bout being canceled, he has been booked instead to meet Diego Ferreira.
ESPN was the first to report the fight.
Gillespie (13-1, 6-1 UFC) picked up six straight wins to start his UFC career, but was nastily knocked out by a Kevin Lee head kick back in November 2019. He is currently ranked at number 15 at 155 pounds in the official UFC rankings.