Many people are convinced that UFC 253’s main event between champion Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa is one of the best middleweight fights of all time, but one-half of the fight’s participants disagrees.
UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya (19-0) and Paulo Costa (13-0) will both bring their undefeated records with them to their showdown this Saturday at UFC 253. Their pristine records along with their long-running war of words have generated a ton of hype for their encounter on Fight Island. UFC president Dana White has gone so far as to guarantee that Adesanya and Costa will be the fight of the year. There is one perhaps unexpected source who is not buying into the hype, the champion of that very main event, Israel Adesanya.
“No. I don’t think so,” Adesanya said during Wednesday’s media day regarding if UFC 253’s main event is one of the best ever MW fights ever. “His resume doesn’t hold up enough.
“You look at the guys he’s beat. He beat an over-the-hill Johny Hendricks, no offense. He beat Uriah Hall, who was doing quite well in that fight, one of his better performances. But Uriah Hall succumbed to his will, because Uriah Hall sometimes breaks mentally. And he beat Yoel Romero, who is on the way out, anyway. … I don’t think it’s going to be the greatest middleweight fight in history. I kinda already did that with Kelvin Gastelum, so I have that in my back resume.”
Of course, should Paulo Costa walk out of UFC 253 with the middleweight championship, the quality level of that resume will experience a massive boost. Both men have the same name as their most recent victory inside the Octagon, Yoel Romero. Costa’s fight against Romero took home Fight of the Night honors while Adesanya’s was subject to heavy criticism due to a lack of activity during the fight. On Saturday, we’ll find out if Adesanya vs. Costa is a Fight of the Night caliber fight or if it, like Adesanya/Romero, will fail to live up to the hype as the champion predicts.
UFC 253 takes place Saturday, September 26, 2020 from Fight Island and will stream live and exclusively on ESPN+.
Do you believe Israel Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa is the best middleweight title fight of all time?
