“He’s Gonna Be Over Confident”- Israel Adesanya Predicts an Early Finish at UFC 253

Israel Adesanya spoke out via the official UFC page for Australia and New Zealand and touched on his upcoming fight. ‘The Last Stylebender’ is just days away from defending his gold strap for the second time against Brazil’s Paulo Costa. Chiefly, the aforementioned fighters have no love lost for each other and fans expect the fight to be explosive.

The elite 185-pound fighters will meet on Yas Fight Island in Abu Dhabi. The fight was to take place back in March, but Costa suffered a bicep injury. When the rubber meets the road, both combatants are sure to deliver massively in the promotions Fight Island return.

Israel Adesanya will prey on Paulo Costa’s overconfidence

The 19-0 fighter, Adesanya, is supremely confident in his skills going into the match-up with the heavy-handed Paulo Costa. Israel believes that he possesses the necessary style to triumph over Paulo’s bullish pressure. Additionally, the champion called for a finish in the fight and will look to catch ‘The Eraser’ as he’s rushing in.

He said, “All I see, it’s gonna be an early finish for me or it’s gonna be a late finish for me, like fourth round. But I see myself taking him out early because he’s gonna be overconfident thinking he can just walk through my shots, same way like a lotta other guys have. They think ‘I don’t see no pop in his punches, he doesn’t have any power, he’s too skinny’.”

The City Kickboxing standout doubled down on his experiences when he steps in to fight his opponents. Additionally, Israel Adesanya has a depth of experience facing different types of opponents, having around 80 kickboxing bouts.

The middleweight champion said, “They’re always surprised, the first few exchanges, they’re always surprised. They get cracked and they’re like ‘Oh!’ It’s like an involuntary body response, they’re body just goes into shock like I wasn’t expecting that. I hope he comes with that attitude cause he’s gonna be in for a rude awakening before he goes to sleep.”

On paper, it certainly seems likely that one of the aforementioned fighters will be robbed of their consciousness given their styles. UFC President Dana White has long proclaimed the bout to be a candidate for the “Fight of the Year.” Considering their stylistic differences and overall disdain for each other, the fight is a certified firefight in many fans’ minds.