UFC 253: Everything You Need To Know Before Israel Adesanya v Paulo Costa: Fight Start Time, Odds, How To Watch In New Zealand, Livestream

Christopher Reive goes over everything you need to know for the UFC 253 card, weighing Kiwi, spearheaded by Israel Adesanya’s UFC title defense against Paulo Costa.

First things first: what’s going on?

Kiwis are taking over Fight Island.

On Sunday, UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya puts his title on the line against undefeated challenger Paulo Costa in the main event of UFC 253. But Adesanya won’t be the only New Zealander to step into the Octagon, with Kai Kara- France, Brad Riddell and Shane Young, all part of Auckland’s City Kickboxing stable, also on the card.

No. 7 flyweight Kara-France will face No. 9-ranked Brandon Royval in his first appearance on the main card of a pay-per-view (meaning his fight goes behind the paywall). Lightweight contender Brad Riddell will look to add another loss to Brazilian Alex da Silva’s impressive 21-2 record in the undercard main fight, while featherweight Shane Young makes his first appearance since last February, welcoming to the first Slovak UFC fighter. Ludovit Klein to the previous class in the preliminaries.

It’s the second time in as many years that four New Zealand-based fighters will appear on a UFC undercard, following UFC 243 in Melbourne last October, the largest event in New Zealand combat sports history, which featured with Adesanya, Riddell, Dan Hooker and Luke Jumeau. fighting in front of 57,000 people.

In Fight Island, there will be no people at all. This is how things work in the world of Covid-19.

What can you tell us about their opponents?

Paulo Costa is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, but is known as a volume striker with an affinity for stopping his opponents. In his five UFC fights, he has four victories by TKO and only one by decision. He hasn’t knocked down a UFC opponent, but his pressure and relentless pursuit in the early rounds has beaten his opponents. This will be his first main event in the UFC, and only one of his fights has had a third round, so his cardio is a great question.

Brandon Royval is only one fight in his UFC career, but that was an impressive submission win over tough veteran Tim Elliott. You can expect Royval to try to take his fight with Kara-France to the ground, with Kara-France as the better and more powerful forward of the two. This will be Royval’s first time fighting outside the United States, which puts him at a disadvantage of not being used to acclimatizing. This is not their normal event, and the pair will meet at approximately 5 a.m. local time.

Alex da Silva has an impressive 21-2 career record, but is 1-1 in the UFC. Fifteen of the 23 fights in his career occurred between 2014-15, although his two UFC fights were both in 2019. In those fights, da Silva showed that he has some confidence in his punches, but seems more comfortable when the fight is a short distance. that wrestling against the cage or on the mat. The Brazilian will have a small height and will have an advantage over Riddell.

Ludovit Klein was a late replacement, and Nate Landwehr had to withdraw from his fight against Young after testing positive for Covid-19. Like Landwehr, Klein is a standing left-handed fighter whose best weapon is his high left kick that can land as a single shot or to back up a combination with his hands.

Is Costa the most challenging test of Adesanya’s career?

Any fighter with knockout power will be a threat. If you make a wrong move, you will pay dearly. However, it is hard to say that Costa is the toughest fight Adesanya has ever faced. Costa doesn’t have the résumé to match Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker, and while he’s an exciting fighter to watch and has an underrated skill set, Adesanya has faced more challenging opponents.

What other fights are happening?

Outside of the four kiwis, there are many things that I like about this card. For one thing, Adesanya v Costa isn’t even the only title fight on the card.

American Dominick Reyes and Poland’s Jan Blachowicz will meet in the main event for the vacant light heavyweight title in a showdown of durability and power, while in the preliminaries, Australian welterweight Jake Matthews has a chance to enter the Octagon. against UFC legend Diego Sánchez

How can I see the card?

The first preliminaries begin at noon Sunday on UFC Fight Pass, the company’s streaming platform. The main preliminaries begin at 1 pm on UFC Fight Pass, ESPN and Prime. The main card starts at 3pm and is available to watch on pay-per-view at Sky Arena or UFC Fight Pass.

the Herald You will have live coverage of the card from 1:30 p.m.

What time will the kiwis fight?

Shane Young v Ludovit Klein – at approximately 1:30 p.m.
Brad Riddell v Alex da Silva – approximately 2.30 pm
Kai Kara-France v Brandon Royval – approximately 4pm
Israel Adesanya v Paulo Costa – approximately 5pm

Israel Adesanya v Paulo Costa – Tape Story

Age: 31 || 29
Record: 19-0 (14 KO / TKO) || 13-0 (11 KO / TKO)
Reach: 203 cm || 183cm
Height: 193 cm || 185cm
TAB: $ 1.51 || $ 2.40