Midnight Mania! Izzy Warns Rockhold, ‘Wrestle Him Straight Away!’

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

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Luke Rockhold may be a fairly significant underdog opposite Paulo Costa this week…


UFC Fight Night: Costa v Vettori
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Luke Rockhold may be a fairly significant underdog opposite Paulo Costa this weekend at UFC 278, but Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is backing him.

The pivotal Middleweight co-main event between Rockhold and Costa could go a long way in determining a future title challenger, so it makes sense that Adesanya is paying attention. Breaking down the match up on his YouTube channel, Adesanya emphasized the importance of wearing down Costa early with kicks and takedowns.

“Luke should take him down,” Adesanya said (via MMAJunkie). “Luke, start wrestling straight away. Costa, though, early on (is dangerous). His hips – I remember when Yoel, same thing. Yoel tried to take down Costa, and Costa had the overhook and just whizzered him and then got back up, and they smiled at each other.

“But Luke, if he can wrestle him and get him tired, wear those muscles out. Luke, try to wrestle him straight away. Do what I did: Teep his legs, establish leg kicks a little bit, but start wrestling straight away and make him tired, make him second guess. Make him know he can be taken down or there’s a threat of being taken down.”

On the flip side, Adesanya doesn’t expect much different from Costa. The Brazilian is known for his power punching and combinations, whereas Rockhold has struggled with big hitters in the latter half of his career, suffering his three most recent defeats via knockout.

“Costa, just do what he does,” Adesanya said. “Just barrage him, clip him. If he clips him, he’s probably going to drop Luke.”

“With the time off, hopefully his brain has recovered as much as it can,” Adesanya continued. “My brain goes Luke, so I’m gonna put Luke.”

We’ll find out if Adesanya’s analysis and prediction is on the money Saturday night.

Insomnia

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Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.