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UFC 253 is one of the most awaited pay per views of the year and the pay-per-view headliners, Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa have been going back and forth ahead of their clash in September.
While Paulo Costa took to Twitter and posted a bizarre promo in the lead-up to the fight. Israel Adesanya, on the other hand, is showing off some unique fashion statements lately on social media. Previously he turned his hair bleach blonde but the reigning Middleweight Champion has now tried a new look, turning his hair into pink and has been showing it off to the world ever since. Check out his twitter post below.
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Whether this has anything to do with Costa or it's just a fashion choice is not yet clear. Nevertheless, they both have shared their ideas about how the fight between them would go, And none have been very polite with their predictions, to say the least. Judging by their plan, both men have some violent ideas we can assume.
"Even after I knock him out, I will not shake his hand,” Costa said. “It will be wild. It will be savage. I believe in the second round (I will knock him out) because he will run a lot in the first round. I will not be staying and waiting for him,” Costa added. “I know he can run a lot, and that’s what he wants to do, what he usually does. I won’t wait as Romero did. I will hunt him inside the cage and close the distance and land my shots to his body and his face. Don’t go so fast like Whittaker and don’t go slow like Romero. Make a balance. I think I am very different from both guys because I can pressure him every minute for the 25 minutes.” Said Paulo Costa.
Fair to say peace is not an option for 'The Eraser', even after the fight. Israel Adesanya has also been vocal on his part and has been mocking Costa on any opportunity over the last year.
At UFC 243 after winning the middleweight belt against Robert Whittaker, Israel Adesanya taunted Paulo Costa by calling him "Ricky Martin" and mocking the latter's outfit, who was in the audience. He has also accused Costa of steroid abuse on multiple occasions.
Israel Adesanya vs Paulo Costa could be on the UFC Fight Island
With both men going back and forth, we might expect fireworks when they share the octagon.
The venue of the highly anticipated grudge match is yet to be announced officially. But according to UFC president Dana White, the promotion might be heading back to Fight Island in Abu Dhabi for the mega event.
Speaking to Complex, White was asked where UFC 253 would take place. Although the UFC has been busy holding events at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas during August, White said the promotion will likely be headed back to Fight Island for UFC 253.
"We’ll be announcing (the location) soon. But it’s looking like Fight Island. A lot of the big fights that are international are going to be on Fight Island. I told everybody the last time we were there, people sort of thought this was a one-and-done or whatever, it’s not. We’re going to be at Fight Island. Abu Dhabi is going to end up being the fight capital of the world. It definitely isn’t Las Vegas.”
Judging by those recent comments by the UFC president, it's fair to say Fight Island seems to be the destination for UFC 253.
Dana White also said that UFC is looking to host 5 more weeks worth of fight cards on Fight Island. But he didn't mention those events specifically, however, from what has been announced so far by the UFC we might conclude that UFC 254 on October 24th featuring the UFC Lightweight Title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje is pretty much likely to also take place on Fight Island.
So as things stand, for now, UFC 252 on August 15th, which is headlined by the trilogy fight between champion Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier for the UFC Heavyweight Championship, might be the last major pay per view at UFC's headquarter for quite some time.
