Nigerian-born UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, has retained his title with a second-round knockout of Brazilian Paulo Costa, making the win his 20th career MMA victory.
The Last Style Bender dominated the first round delivering several leg kicks that caused damage on Costa‘s left leg.
Adesanya came out with more purpose in the second round, outboxing his opponent and landing deadly shots.
In his previous fight, Adesanya beat Yoel Romero by decision at the UFC 248 pay-per-view event from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Adesanya has now delivered a perfect performance on Fight Island, Abu Dhabi on Sunday, September 27 to retain his UFC middleweight title for the second time.
‘The Last Stylebender’ as he better known as was absolutely flawless in Abu Dhabi, picking apart his far bigger opponent before landing brutal ground strikes in the second round.
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.
The Brazilian simply could not close the distance, receiving brutal lead leg kicks, desperately swinging to try and land a powerful performance.
Adesanya became the new UFC middleweight champion when he finished Robert Whittaker at UFC 243 last October.
In the build up to the fight, Adesanya and Costa have made several threats to each other in the build-up to the fight and UFC President Dana White predicted it would be the fight of the year.
The Last Syle Bender maintained his 100 per cent record in the octagon and proved doubters wrong that he is one of the greatest in his division.
Read Also: Nigerian UFC Star, Kamaru Usman Defeats Jorge Masvidal To Retain Welterweight Title (photos)
Two Nigerian fighters Adesanya and Kamaru Usman now dominate the UFC middleweight and welterweight divisions respectively.
Watch a short clip of the finishing round below;
pic.twitter.com/TSmJPAGaNG@stylebender “I’m your stepdad”
— Tiyam Telli Lajmiri (@TiyamTelli) September 27, 2020
Nigeria to the world!!!!