Israel Adesanya warns Khamzat Chimaev against taking Paulo Costa lightly, says he's 'rooting for new blood' - "He's a hard fight"

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya wants to face new challenges in his second title reign. 'The Last Stylebender' is watching the middleweight matchups carefully and hopes that young contenders like Khamzat Chimaev continue with their winning ways.

Israel Adesanya’s former opponent and sixth-ranked middleweight Paulo Costa is set to take on rising contender Khamzat Chimaev at the UFC 294 PPV event in October. The winner of this fight will have a strong case for the next middleweight title shot.

Adesanya is backing Khamzat Chimaev to win this fight and said to MMA Fighting in an interview:

“I don’t know who’s going to win but I think if I’m favoring, I might be favoring Khamzat a little bit more because I like new blood.”

Adesanya defeated Paulo Costa in lopsided fashion at UFC 253. Costa’s reputation took a severe blow due to the lackluster performance. But the champion thinks that the Brazilian is a very difficult opponent and Chimaev needs to be careful in the fight.

“I just made Paulo look easy but trust me, he’s a hard fight," Adesanya added. "He’s a hard fight but I made him look easy. But I think I’m rooting for Khamzat more in that fight.”

‘The Last Stylebender’ has been lapping the division since winning the title at UFC 243. However, the emergence of new contenders like Alex Pereira, his next opponent Sean Strickland, and Dricus Du Plessis made things that much more interesting for the champion. But, Khamzat Chimaev’s grappling presents a unique in the striking-heavy middleweight division.

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Israel Adesanya has to take care of the business at UFC 293

Israel Adesanya regained his UFC middleweight title with a fascinating knockout win over his conqueror Alex Pereira at UFC 287 in April 2023. He has several contenders and young prospects waiting to take a shot at the coveted title. While South African contender Dricus Du Plessis was supposed to be the next challenger, he had to pull out of the fight due to a foot injury.

Fifth-ranked UFC middleweight Sean Strickland, who is coming off a devastating knockout win over Abus Magomedov, replaced Du Plessis. Adesanya vs. Strickland will headline the UFC 293 event set to take place on September 10, 2023.

While ‘The Last Stylebender’ is a massive -650 favorite heading into the fight, Strickland is a +420 underdog. But if UFC history has taught us anything, then it’s that challengers that seem least likely to win, can sometimes get the job done.