FSM Essential Recap: UFC 253 – Adesanya vs Costa – 9/26/2020

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UFC 253 returned to “Fight Island” in the Flash Forum at Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. Dana White lined up a great card that featured a highly anticipated main event between the middleweight champion Israel “Izzy” Adesanya and Paulo Costa.

 

This is the fight everyone has wanted to see for a while, and we finally got it. There is no love lost between Adesanya and Costa, and they wanted to finish the other off, fast. Adesanya came into the fight 19-0. He last fought at UFC 248, beating Yoel Romero by a unanimous decision. Costa, who was 12-0, came into the  Octagon for the first time since August 2019, where he also beat Romero by unanimous decision at UFC 241.

 

Adesanya came out looking sharp. It seemed he had a particular game plan that consisted of chopping down Costa’s legs with a flurry of thudding leg kicks. On the flip side, you could see Costa was trying to conserve his energy to try and go the full 25 minutes.

But this fight was over relatively quickly. At 3:59 of the second round, Adesanya knocked Costa down to the canvas and started to connect on a flurry of shots to retain the belt. Afterward, “Izzy” decided to breakdance and do a backspin while the doctors attended to Costa.

 

Jan Blachowicz TKO’d Dominick Reyes to capture the vacant Light Heavyweight title.

 

 

Blachowicz had the ideal start to the fight. From the get-go, he threw and connected on more strikes than Reyes. Everything Blachowicz seemed to throw was with bad, cruel intentions, including a thundering body kick that left a footprint on Reyes, who needed to get more active in this fight.

After dominating the first round with heavy strikes, Blachowicz continued the same in the second. The fight’s course changed when Blachowicz threw and connected on a left hook followed by a straight right hand, which sent Reyes backpedaling and looking for a place to catch his breath. Blachowicz continued to stalk Reyes with one shot after another. Blachowicz hit Reyes with another straight right hand and followed that with an overhand left to send him to the canvas.

Like a shark, hungry and smelling blood, Blachowicz rained down a series of shots to get the TKO and claim the crown as the new 205-pound champion.

 

 

The rest of the UFC 253 card went like this:

 

• Brandon Royval def. Kai Kara-France via submission.
• Ketlen Vieira def. Sijara Eubanks via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Hakeem Dawodu def. Zubaira Tukugov via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28)
• Brad Riddell def. Alex Da Silva by via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Jake Matthews def. Diego Sanchez by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
• Ludovit Klein def. Shane Young via knockout at 1:16 of the first round
• William Knight def. Aleksa Camur by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Juan Espino def. Jeff Hughes via submission at 3:48 of the first round
• Danilo Marquis def. Khadis Ibragimov by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

 

 

Another good night of fights in the books as the UFC continues to entertain us week after week during this period we’ve been in. Next we are back at Fight Island with another fantastic card.

 

Be sure to stay tuned on franchisesportsmedia.com for the latest in MMA and Las Vegas Sports.

Covington vs Woodley         Covington vs Woodley         Covington vs Woodley         Covington vs Woodley   Adesanya vs Costa       Adesanya vs Costa       Adesanya vs Costa       Adesanya vs Costa       Adesanya vs Costa       Adesanya vs Costa       Adesanya vs Costa       Adesanya vs Costa       Adesanya vs Costa       Adesanya vs Costa       Adesanya vs Costa       Adesanya vs Costa       Adesanya vs Costa       Adesanya vs Costa                        

-Kalani Lua – Franchise Sports Media

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