Israel “The Last Stylebender” Adesanya and Paulo “Borrachinha” Costa fought for the UFC Middleweight championship in the first UFC championship fight between undefeated fighters since 2009 when Lyoto Machida defeated Rashad Evans. Adesanya entered the bout with a perfect 19-0 record against the 13-0 Costa.

This bout was Adesanya’s second title defense after he beat Yoel “Soldier of God” Romero by unanimous decision at UFC 248 in March. Costa also was coming off a unanimous decision victory against Romero at UFC 241. Prior to that decision victory, Costa had won all twelve of his previous fights by finish with 11 TKOs and 1 submission.

Round 1

Adesanya opened the fight with a hard outside low kick. Adesanya landed two more leg kicks early. Unlike his previous fight with Romero where Costa seemingly marched forward and threw volume, Costa took a much more cautious approach against the Nigerian/New Zealander champion. Costa landed a few nice kicks in the first half of the round, but not much else. Adesanya, however, was far busier as he fed Costa a steady diet of heavy leg kicks throughout the round. Halfway through the round Costa’s left knee began showing significant redness from the kicks. After landing several more hard leg kicks, Adesanya landed a cracking left body kick late in the round. Costa absorbed 15 leg kicks in the round.

Seattle Fights round score – 10-9 Adesanya

Round 2

Adesanya was right back to the outside low kicks to Costa’s left knee to start the second round. Costa landed a couple of nice kicks early in the round, but appeared hesitant to attack with punches in the fight. Adesanya landed a big left body kick followed by a hard left hand with about 3 minutes left in the second round. Adesanya landed a big left head kick to the head that Costa appeared to eat well halfway through the round. Adesanya followed up with another hard kick to Costa’s left knee. Costa, at that point, appeared to be really struggling with his movement as a result of the lead leg damage suffered. After catching a left body kick, Adesanya landed a brilliant three punch combination, starting and finishing with the body. With about a minute left in the round, Adesanya ended the fight. The finishing sequence started with a left hook that glanced off Costa’s temple and sent him crashing to the floor. Adesanya followed up with about eight shots from top position before the referee ended the fight. Incredible striking performace for Adesanya, with little in the way of resitance offered by Costa.

Official result – TKO victory for Adesanya – Round 2 (3:59)