The UFC 253 headliner didn’t go the way Dana White expected it to.
Israel Adesanya successfully defended his middleweight title against Paulo Costa following a dominant second-round TKO win on Saturday night.
Many were anticipating the matchup for months given the styles of the two fighters, especially Costa who is known for his pressure and volume. However, “The Eraser” chose to showboat and clown around while receiving damage from Adesanya in the process.
When he did attempt to engage, he had very little success landing on Adesanya. In the end, “The Last Stylebender” was able to catch Costa and drop him en route to the TKO finish.
And while White had praise for Adesanya’s performance, he was left feeling underwhelmed because of how Costa performed.
“So much for ‘Fight of the Year’ – it was ‘Domination of the Year,’” White said at the post-fight news conference (via MMA Junkie). “It was weird because if you look at every other fight that Costa has had, he comes out and goes after people like they owe him money. I think he landed one jab in this fight. He didn’t try to clinch on the fence, didn’t try to put pressure, kept going back to the center of the octagon. It was very weird.
“If he fought the way he fights – I mean look at the way he fought Yoel Romero, one of the most dangerous guys ever, and then he stays on the outside, taking damage to that front leg (against Adesanya). Then when he does rush in and get him up against the cage, he backs out to the center of the cage again. (He) never tried to get in the clinch. I think he only landed one jab (and) didn’t really thrown any punches when (Adesanya) threw kicks. It was very weird. I just sat there going, ‘Holy (explicit).’ Obviously Adesanya went to work, pieced him piece by piece, made it look really easy.”
While Adesanya’s previous fight with Yoel Romero deserved uproar according to White, this time, the champion certainly wasn’t to blame as he ended up winning in convincing fashion.
“No matter what, it was Adesanya put on a clinic,” White added. “The first three calf kicks busted up his leg and got him right in the side of the knee. (He) had a huge welt on the side of the knee, and then the shin to the eye and just absolutely dismantled him. (He) easily won the fight.”
Do you agree with White?