In the main event of UFC 253 Israel Adesanya made things look easy. He chewed up Paulo Costa’s lead leg with kicks. Then, when Costa, who fought in a much more reserved style than usual, attempted to land a strike, Adesanya leaned out of the way, took a step to the side and decked Costa with a counter. The middleweight champion gave Costa no time to recover and swarmed him with ground strikes for the victory. That performance was impressive. As for Adesanya’s theatrics after the win, well, opinions probably differ on those.
The co-main event saw Jan Blachowicz claim the vacant UFC light heavyweight title with a calm, cool and collected stoppage win over the favored Dominick Reyes, who did not look like the man who went five rounds with former champion Jon Jones earlier this year.