Israel Adesanya will be watching the co-main event of UFC 278 closely, as division contenders Paulo Costa and Luke Rockhold square off.
UFC middleweight champion Adesanya, will be facing off against Alex Pereira at UFC 281, but he is still paying close attention to the rest of the middleweight division. Adesanya is excited to watch this fight, as it may have implications on who he fights next, depending on if he is able to get passed Pereira. Rockhold is already eyeing up a title match, if he is able to beat Costa.
Costa on the other hand, has already fought Adesanya and lost via TKO in the second round. A potential second fight between Costa and Adesanya would be a fun fight, as the two certainly have some bad blood between them. Adesanya humped Costa after beating him in their first fight, so Costa is looking for some redemption.
Israel Adesanya took to his YouTube to give a prediction of the fight
“Luke should take him down, Luke should start wrestling right away. Costa, though early on (is dangerous). His hips as well, I remember with Yoel, Yoel tried to take him down and Costa had the overhook and wizard him and they got up,” Adesanya said. “Luke, if he can get him down or just wrestle him, get him tired, wear those muscles out. Luke should try and wrestle straight away do what I did, teep his legs, establish the range, leg kicks a little bit. But, start wrestling straight away and make him tired and make him know that he can be taken down or there’s a threat of being taken down. Costa, just do what he does, barrage him, clip him. If he clips him he will probably drop Luke.” (Transcribed by BJPenn.com)
Adesanya went on to say that he believes that Rockhold will end up upsetting Costa, although he sees that there are paths for both fighters to win.