The difference is stark. Danny Sabatello won’t stop his chatter. Leandro Higo doesn’t talk much in Portuguese and speaks even less in English.

The recipe already made for an intriguing lead-up to Bellator 282 through social banter. Tuesday, Twitter fingers flourished into real (virtual) face-to-face insults and exchanges.

Higo (21-5 MMA, 4-3 BMMA) instantly was on the receiving end, as “The Italian Gangster” Sabatello (12-1 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) went on the offensive and aired out his newest set of grievances.

“Somebody the other day told me he’s an amazing jiu-jitsu guy and I almost puked,” Sabatello told MMA Junkie, to kick his segment off. “I don’t see it. I don’t see how he has any threat to me. It’s kind of a dream come true matchup, just because he thinks he’s a jiu-jitsu guy. My pressure is going to be too much for him. First off, he’s got to make weight. I don’t even know if he’s going to make weight. Higo, you’re looking a little fat. Are you going to make weight, or what’s the deal?”

Higo rides a three-fight winning streak into their June 24 bantamweight grand prix clash. However, for his most recent two outings, Higo has missed weight. The first time, he missed by three pounds. The second time was closer, but still off by 1.5 pounds. Sabatello didn’t like that – and he didn’t like perceived fake confusion by Higo when he was called out.

“Oh, man, he’s acting like he doesn’t speak English,” Sabatello said. “I don’t know. He’s probably scared to talk to me, so he’s probably acting like he doesn’t understand English. Yeah, I’m going to smash him. I’m very confident in the matchup. It’s going to be good. I don’t think this guy is very respectful to the game. I know he misses weight all the f*cking time. He missed weight his last two fights, like a b*tch. I really want to punish him for it.”

At a slight disadvantage, on a call where he is supposed to exchange words in an unfamiliar language, Higo tried his best to clap back at Sabatello as he used an interpreter. Higo said he wasn’t impressed with Sabatello’s recent performances and shook off the notion weight will be an issue this time around.

“I think the only one who should be concerned about my weight should be me,” Higo said in Portuguese. “Sabatello should be worried about what I’m going to do to him in the cage. As far as my weight management is going, everything is on point. We figured out what he need to do. I’m much lower than I used to be. About him saying I’m not a jiu-jitsu fighter, he’s partially right. I’m not just a jiu-jitsu fighter. I have many skills at my disposal. I bring bombs to this fight and he’s going to feel it. I can beat him everywhere in the game.

“… I’ve trained with guys better than him, better wrestlers than him. The guys that he’s fought, he was only able to dominate them because they don’t even know how to hip escape. For me, it was nothing.”

As Higo spoke, Sabatello flipped him the middle finger. Higo eventually responded with sign language of his own. He prodded one finger in and out of a hole made by the thumb and pointer finger of his other hand – a pretty clear symbol, of… yeah, something inappropriate.

Sabatello didn’t skip a beat. He was too busy predicting how many stitches his ground-and-pound will give Higo on fight night. He also went as far as to say if the news conference happened in person, he would’ve struck Higo.

“I think he sucks as a person and I think he sucks in the cage,” Sabatello said. “I don’t think he’s very good. … I see it a fourth-round TKO, but before that, I want to f*cking punish him in his little stupid-ass, f*cking face. We’re lucky this is virtual right now. If this was in person, I’d slap the f*ck out of his face. It’s probably good that this isn’t in person.”

As time went on, Higo became more fiery with his responses. Maybe it was Sabatello’s taunts that finally got under his skin, or maybe he became more confident in the verbal back-and-forth, but Higo brushed off his upcoming opponent’s grinding grappling style as nothing special.

“He goes on his little, b*tchy rant and said that I suck and my skills suck,” Higo said. “How is he going to torture me or slice me open if he has pillow punches? He doesn’t hurt anybody in his fights. He just lays on top of them. He goes in there for 25 minutes, 15 minutes, whatever, and the guys leave the same way they got in. He is the one who ends up leaving worse. I’m the one who has power. I’m the one who can hurt him in there. I’m going to do that to him. I’m going to beat him up like he was never beaten up before in his entire career.

“As far as disrespecting the sport, he doesn’t know sh*t about what he’s talking about. He is the one disrespecting the sport. He doesn’t have a martial arts attitude. He’s only talking trash and he just got here. He has no idea what this level is and I’m going to show it to him.”

June 25, it’s likely someone will be proven right and someone else wrong. Higo and Sabatello will face off in a five-round bout at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. The victor will go on to face interim titleholder Raufeon Stots in a semifinal matchup later in 2022.