Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya gave his breakdown of the UFC 278 co-main event between former titleholder Luke Rockhold and Paulo Costa.
Rockhold (16-5) hasn’t fought since July 2019, losing his light heavyweight debut against Jan Błachowicz by knockout. His bout with Costa will be Rockhold’s return to the middleweight division.
Costa (13-2) is coming off back-to-back losses to Adesanya and Marvin Vettori and hopes to get can in the win column on Saturday.
“I say Luke should take him down. Luke, start wrestling straight away,” Adesanya said during his UFC 278 breakdown on his YouTube Channel. “Get him tired. Wear those muscles out… Make him tired. Make him second guess. Make him think he can be taken down, or there’s a threat of being taken down.”
For Costa, Adesanya believes ‘Borrachinha’ just needs to go what he normally does, but ultimately Adesanya picked Rockhold to win.
“Costa, I think just do what he does. Barrage him. Barrage him. If he clips him, he’s probably going to drop Luke,” Adesanya said.
“With the time off, hopefully his (Luke’s) brain has recovered as much as it can. My brain goes Luke, so I’m going to pick Luke.”
Israel Adesanya breaks down UFC 278 co-main event between Paulo Costa and Luke Rockhold
