UFC 253: Predictions for Paulo Costa vs. Israel Adesanya

The UFC is back on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi on Saturday night with two title fights that have the potential to be some really darn good fights.

The co-main event is for the light-heavyweight belt, which Jon Jones owned for so long before giving it up to make the jump to heavyweight. Dominick Reyes, who lost to Jones in a close decision last February, takes on Jan Blachowicz in a fight that I’m guessing won’t go the distance.

Watch UFC 253 on ESPN+

The fun thing about this fight is that each fighter knows the opportunity that is sitting right there for them. With Jones now out of the picture, this division  needs a new champion and a win here can do wonders for their careers. That’s why I don’t expect either of them to hold anything back and I’m predicting this thing will be over early. Reyes has nine first-round finishes in his professional career and Blachowicz has seven.

So who’s going to win? Reyes is the favorite and rightfully so, as many thought he should have been given the decision in his fight against Jones. Blachowicz is coming off three straight wins over Luke Rockhold (a former champ), Ronaldo Souza, and Corey Anderson (who he knocked out in the first round back in February).

Here’s who I like – Blachowicz in a second-round KO. I think they will be trading strikes early and often and I think the red-hot Blachowicz catches Reyes with one that gives him the belt.

Now we move on to the main event, which should be a doozy. The champ, Israel Adesanya, is a special talent who is must-see TV every time he enters the Octagon. We got burned by that, however, in his last fight as his win over Yoel Romero was a snoozer. Adesanya had to avoid the one-punch knockout power of Romero in that one, which was understandable, although disappointing.

But I think this one against Paulo Costa will be more like the war Adesanya had against Kelvin Gastelum, as both fighters have traded bad blood leading up to this title fight. I also think Adesanya will show us the incredible skills that were on display when he took the belt from Robert Whittaker with a second-round KO last year.

Costa has finishing power and his last fight was a classic against Romero where he showed he could take a lot of damage and also cause a lot of damage on his opponent, too

But I think Adesanya will be able to create enough space to limit Costa’s ability to do too much damage in this one.

I think Adesanya puts on a show in this one and wins with a fifth-round KO, as Costa has never fought in the championship rounds and things will become too much from him in the last round.

We recommend interesting sports viewing/streaming and betting opportunities. If you sign up for a service by clicking one of the links, we may earn a referral fee.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.