UFC free fight: Israel Adesanya picks apart Paulo Costa, hands him first professional loss

Paulo Costa’s unbeaten run came to a halt the day he faced Israel Adesanya.

Back in September 2020 at UFC 253, Adesanya defended his 185-pound title against Costa, who was then a highly-promising, unbeaten rising star. Unfortunately for Costa, de put on arguably his worst career performance, as he was picked apart with leg kicks and then stopped in the second round of their contest.

It was a masterful display by Adesanya and one of the cleanest wins of his UFC career.

You can watch the video of the fight above.

Adesanya returns to the octagon on Sept. 9 to defend his middleweight title against Sean Strickland. The two headline UFC 293, which goes down at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.

Adesanya (24-2 MMA, 13-2 UFC) is coming off a KO win over nemesis Alex Pereira in the main event of UFC 287 back in April. It was an immediate rematch that had Adesanya get his belt back having lost to Pereira by TKO in November 2022.

Strickland (27-5 MMA, 14-5 UFC), on the other hand, last fought in July when he defeated Abusupiyan Magomedov by TKO. Strickland is on a two-fight winning streak since losing to Pereira and Jared Cannonier in 2022.