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Israel Adesanya once again proved he is in a class of his own at the top of the UFC middleweight division when he finished off Paulo Costa in the second round of the pair’s UFC 253 main event on Saturday night.
The long-awaited grudge match between two undefeated fighters topped the card as the UFC returned to ‘Fight Island’ in Abu Dhabi, but despite all the hype, the discrepancy in skill between Adesanya and her challenger soon became apparent.
Nigerian-born New Zealander Adesanya (20-0) landed more than 20 kicks to the leg in the first round as he set out to destabilize Costa’s base, and while the Brazilian was able to land some distinctive body kicks, his most striking moments in the first painting came in the form of a mockery of ‘The Last Stylebender’.
Costa (13-1) was beckoning on the fast break, which kept calm before increasing its performance in the second round.
That’s when Adesanya opened up his rival with a pimple on his head before finding a spot for some stern shots.
Costa went ahead, according to his boxing DNA, but he did it with bad legs. ‘The Eraser’ stepped on a left hook as Adesanya slid out of reach, and Costa went down.
The champion was no less efficient in taking down the Brazilian than he had been in engineering the ending sequence of the fight, landing hammer fists on Costa to complete his masterclass and force referee Jason Herzog to stop the action.
In the evening’s main event, Pole Jan Blachowicz (27-8) also secured a second round TKO victory, defeating Dominick Reyes (12-2) to win the light heavyweight title vacated by Jon. Jones in August.
As with the main event, it was a left hand that ushered in the finale, Reyes’s legs buckled under him as he found himself on the receiving end of Blachowicz’s ‘Polish power’.
Blachowicz, 37, who became his nation’s first UFC men’s champion with the victory over Reyes, immediately called out Jon Jones, who resigned from the light heavyweight belt last month before a planned move to the division. heavyweight.
Israel Adesanya (C) def. Paulo Costa by TKO in the second round (strikes, 3:59)
Blachowicz (C) def. Reyes by TKO in the second round (strikes, 4:36)
Brandon Defeat Royval. Kai Kara-France by submission in the second round (guillotine choke, 0:48)
Ketlen Vieira def. Sijara Eubanks via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Hakeem Dawodu def. Zubaira Tukhugov via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28)
Brad Riddell defeat. Alex Da Silva by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Defeat Jake Matthews. Diego Sánchez by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
Ludovit Klein def. Shane Young by first round knockout (strikes, 1:16)
William Knight def. Aleksa Camur via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Juan Espino def. Jeff Hughes via submission in the first round (arm triangle, 3:48)
Danilo Marques defe. Khadis Ibragimov via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
