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Israel Adesanya knows he still has a lot of work ahead of him to be ranked among the UFC’s all-time greats, but bet against him at your own risk.
With his title defense against Paulo Costa heralded as one of the greatest in middleweight history, Adesanya scoffed at those conversations by snapping the Brazilian’s undefeated streak with a dominant second-round TKO victory at UFC 253 at Abu dhabi
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Blood drips from Paulo Costa’s eye shortly before Israel Adesanya stopped him.
The uneven victory improved Adesanya’s overall MMA record to 20-0, nine of whom have come in the UFC and seven against opponents ranked in the top 15.
After completely surpassing the man many believed would pose a serious threat to his reign, ‘The Last Stylebender’ only seemed more motivated to add to his impressive CV.
“This thing (the belt) is beautiful and gold looks good on black skin. But it doesn’t mean anything,” Adesanya said at his post-fight press conference.
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“For me, it’s about the victories, the names you collect, the scalps you wear on the road. If I had lost this tonight, I wouldn’t mind. [the belt], I would have been sad to have lost the fight.
“All I care about is fighting. This is good because cheddar makes it better. It brings more money, more notoriety. But I will continue to do what I am doing and my legacy will grow in time.”
Adesanya has been regularly linked to a super fight with pound-for-pound king Jon Jones. But while he didn’t rule out weight gain, he seems more focused on pursuing greatness in the middleweight division before anything else.
Sunday’s victory was the second successful defense of the Nigerian-Kiwi title, which is still a bit off the record of 10 middleweight Brazilian legend Anderson Silva.
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Israel Adesanya kicks Paulo Costa during his second-round victory at UFC 253.
Adesanya, who has already identified Jared Cannonier as his next opponent should the American beat Robert Whittaker next month, said he wasn’t necessarily looking at Silva’s numbers.
“That is not my goal to be honest because there will never be another Anderson Silva,” the former kickboxer said. “For me, it’s just being me, being the last and only Stylebender. It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality.
“I have some really good quality wins under my belt. That’s my 15th knockout in MMA and my 100th fight win. I’ve been doing this for a long time. So I’m not chasing his legacy, I’m chasing my own legacy.” .
Costa had no response to Adesanya’s superior tactics as he repeatedly attacked the Brazilian’s lead leg before knocking him down with a left hook in the second round.
Costa only threw 26 strikes the entire fight and while the damage to his left leg was clearly evident late in the first round, he continued to taunt Adesanya in the second.
But Adesanya and her team of experts from the Auckland City Kickboxing gym could see their strategy a mile away.
“I told you before the fight, guys, I’m not a human punching bag. He’s only fought human punching bags, guys who stand there and take cover.
“[My opponents] They already know that they can’t go five rounds, so maybe their tactic was to wait until later rounds and then continue. It’s stupid because you’re giving away rounds, you’re giving away points. I kept marking his legs with different types of kicks and knew his leg was compromised.
“All that teasing … … he wasn’t going to get caught up in his game.”
The result resolved a long-running feud between the pair that dominated much of the preparation for the fight.
Adesanya has previously spoken about how he was harassed growing up in New Zealand and admitted that some of the posts Costa put on social media reminded him of that experience.
He hoped his performance would inspire anyone who has been bullied.
“I wanted to take a bite out of the bully,” Adesanya said.
“We didn’t have that when I was growing up, but now kids go through bullying on social media and he was trying to do that to me. To me, it was like he was trying to unleash the youngest ‘Izzy’, but you do that and you’ll have the big dog in the yard now.
“Whether at school or at home, or even at work if their boss is bothering them, I dedicate this fight to them because they have to fight. They can’t take that all the time, they have to bite back.”
