This weekend Paulo Costa looks to capture the middleweight title from Israel Adesanya. Former champ Miesha Tate recently broke down what he needs to do, if he hopes to be successful.
Tate, like the rest of the fans around the world, is super excited to see this weekend’s UFC 253 main event. Israel Adesanya is looking to get his second middleweight title defense, but Paulo Costa is hopeful to spoil this by snatching the crown, in hopefully devastating fashion. As much as there is a (potentially fake) beef between the two, the stylistic matchup is good enough to cause hype regardless of any preexisting storylines.
Miesha Tate Reveals A Gameplan For Paulo Costa
For the most part, this is one of those fights that fans seem to think they know how it will play out. The expectation is that Adesanya will look to use his footwork to counter, while Costa will try to back the champ up to the fence and bulldoze him with power shots. However, as Miesha Tate explained recently, the Brazilian needs to adjust his approach a bit if he hopes to win.
“Adesanya is buying in,” Tate said. “He’s doubling down on himself, and that’s really what makes him such a special champion. He’s got the skillset to back up the fact that he is so high on himself. But now Costa, even though he is a very powerful man, he’s put a lot of fighters away. I think if he is able to touch the chin of Adesanya, he can definetly get it done. But he is also kind of like the dream matchup for someone like Adesanya.
“The point is, how does Costa adjust his style?” Tate continued. “Look if I was going to tell Costa, look this is how you are going to have to beat Adesanya, I would say you’re going to have to fight in waves. Sometimes you’re going to have to force (Adesanya) to come forward, and when he takes the one step forward, that’s when you’ve got to blitz. Because if he’s moving back, he’s going to be in the rhythm, if he’s moving backwards and sideways.
“So (Costa) is going to have to fight and really feel the timing of Adesanya,” Tate concluded. “Maybe fake him out a little bit, get Adesanya to swing once, even if it is just a light one, and miss and get inside. But I don’t really know if Costa will be able to do that. Costa’s not really the most dynamic striker. He is a powerhouse, he is a brawler, he is a fighter. Where Adesanya is a strategist. So to ask Costa to become a strategist, I don’t know if that will happen, but it does make for an intriguing matchup.”
"Costa is the one who has to make the adjustments and that's always harder to do."@MieshaTate breaks down the changes that Paulo Costa will have to make at #UFC253 in order to be successful against Israel Adesanya. @RyanMcKinnell pic.twitter.com/524k6MCvn5
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) September 23, 2020
How do you think Israel Adesanya vs Paulo Costa will play out? Do you think Miesha Tate is correct in her breakdown of how things will go?
