Former UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, watched the UFC 302: “Makhachev vs. Poirier” pay-per-view (PPV) card from the comfort of his couch, putting a particular emphasis on the five-round middleweight co-main event between Sean Strickland and Paulo Costa.
Adesanya may end up facing one of them in a rematch at some point in 2025.
“Costa sucks off the back foot — he’s not really good off the back foot,” Adesanya said on YouTube. “He’s doing better in this fight. Costa could set him up so bad here, man, because (Strickland is) so worried about that leg. It’s easier said than done, I’ll tell you that, but if you’ve worked on it, you know how to do it.”
Despite a wonky scorecard, Strickland captured an uninspired decision victory over Costa.
“This is what I thought he would do,” Adesanya continued. “He’s walking him down. He’s possibly losing the rounds because he’s not really landing as much but he’s just like, ‘You know what? I’ll break him and eventually I’ll just storm him.’ [Strickland] hammer fists your face, that’s how he throws his jab, he just throws a hammer fist.”
Adesanya, who defeated Costa at UFC 253 but fell to Strickland at UFC 293, is expected to face off against current middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis at some point later this year, with Strickland — or perhaps the winner of this fight — next in line.
For more UFC 302 results and fallout click here.