The UFC middleweight champion and Nigerian-born, Israel Adesanya, ‘The Last StyleBender’ in a second-round knockout victory over Brazilian Paulo Costa to retain his UFC middleweight title in Abu Dhabi.
Israel’s win marks his 20th career MMA victory.
Less action was visible in the first round from Israel who in the second round came out, outboxing his opponent and landing deadly shots.
Costa was left bloodied and bruised on the canvas, with his undefeated record in tatters after being picked apart so ruthlessly needing medical attention after the referee waved off the fight.
Adesanya has called out Jared Cannonier as his next opponent, “I said it before, Anderson Silver left a huge legacy in this division and I said I wanted to do service to the middleweight division and that’s a tough act to follow but we’re doing the work,” he said after the fight.
“I already messaged Jared Cannonier, he is a hell of a dude, I love his energy, I said, you destroy Robert Whittaker, you are next. He’s the one I want to fight next”.