A middleweight championship clash between Israel Adesanya and Paulo Henrique Costa will serve as the headliner for UFC 253.
Multiple outlets confirmed the booking following an initial report from Combate. UFC 253 takes place on Sept. 19 and will either be held at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas or on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. Originally, the plan was for Khabib Nurmagomedov to defend the 155-pound belt against Justin Gaethje at the event, but that bout might be pushed back to later in the fall after the death of Nurmagomedov’s father, according to ESPN.