Israel Adesanya retained his UFC middleweight title tonight, while Jan Blachowicz won the light heavyweight belt.
Two major fights took place at the UFC 253, and both saw second-round TKOs, with one old and one new champion.
Israel Adesanya (20-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) defeated Paulo Costa (13-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) in the bout of undefeated middleweight superstars, pretty easily. The Last Stylebender was dominant against the toughest challenger so far, proving that he currently doesn’t have a match in this division.
WHAT A STATEMENT 🙌
Israel Adesanya ends the rivalry with Paulo Costa inside two rounds with a dominant display!
It was THAT easy 😳 #UFC253 pic.twitter.com/jxdchos1zf
— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) September 27, 2020
Adesanya was hurting Costa’s lead leg right from the start keeping the distance between him and the opponent, while also slowing down his mobility and frustrating the Brazilian who couldn’t attack and get near the champ.
As time went by, Borrachina became slower, and more open, which allowed Adesanya to use his murderous counter-punches. From one such situation, he struck Costa’s temple putting him on the floor, and finishing things in a matter of moments.
More was expected from Costa, who failed to show up, or to be more precise, Adesanya never allowed him to do so. His leg was heavily damaged, and it seems that he didn’t have the solution on how to settle that problem.
Meanwhile, Jan Blachowicz (27-8 MMA, 10-5 UFC), who was 2-4 in his UFC start, is now a new light heavyweight champion. The Polish titan defeated the favorite, Dominick Reyes, via TKO at 4:36 of the second round.
He was so dominant against Reyes that many experts were left stunned with his performance. Apart from the early situation where Reyes delivered one punch that shook the Pole we saw the new champ leading the contest throughout all the time.
THAT LEGENDARY POLISH POWER 🇵🇱😱
Jan Blachowicz knocks out Dominick Reyes to become UFC light-heavyweight champion 🏆 #UFC253 pic.twitter.com/HogySrU5UM
— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) September 27, 2020
Left kicks to the ribs were something Blachowicz used a lot, and there was a massive hematoma on Reyes’s right side, which looked pretty bad. The two-time challenger experienced a huge beating in the second, which broke and dislocated his hose at one point.
Left hard push sent from Blachowicz shook Reyes, who wobbled for a few steps before getting back on his back, and from that position, there was no returning. His rival was all over him, and the judge in the ring, Kevin Sataki, had to stop the fight.
Blachowicz said that he wants to fight Jon Jones or Thiago Santos in the upcoming few months.