Middleweight contenders Sean Strickland and Paulo Costa collide soon at UFC 302. The pivotal middleweight scrap can have deep title implications for both. Many have predicted in favor of Strickland winning a decision against Costa. A mutual opponent to both, Israel Adesanya has identified the best path to victory for the American fighter.
‘The Last Stylebender’ most often does fight predictions and live reactions with City Kickboxing NZ stablemate Dan Hooker. This week, he partnered up with Stake.com (@Stake Sportsbook) to predict the closing affairs on the UFC 302 main card. Given that he has a history with both fighters, Adesanya revealed the jabs and front kick would present problems for Costa.
[For] Strickland, do what he does…pressure…jab. I think the front kick would be a problem for Costa, dealing with them… Costa is [the] more dynamic striker. Yeah [kicks and jabs enough to keep Costa away] he does it really well…Does it really well…It’s more about consistency, momentum.
Israel Adesanya via his Official YT Channel (@FreeStylebender)
‘Tarzan’ and Israel Adesanya keep a contentious like-hate dynamic alive. Most recently, he even gibed down Strickland’s zero-defense reign. Yet he maintains that Strickland can win this matchup due to consistency and more homegrown battle acumen. The 33-year-old American striker went 3-0 last year, with a dominant performance over Adesanya in the third one. On the other hand, Costa is infamous for his multiple pullouts and has not performed consistently.
The Brazilian is the more athletic and powerful striker in this matchup compared to Strickland’s outright feet-plant boxing. The anti-wrestler in Strickland prefers a standup game. Costa provided an interesting shift ratio in body shots to leg kicks or spinning back kicks in his entertaining high-paced battle with Robert Whittaker at UFC 298. However, Strickland remains a dangerous striker.
Henry Cejudo doesn’t prefer Paulo Costa’s chances against Sean Strickland in a standup game
Costa (14-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) meets former UFC middleweight titleholder Sean Strickland this weekend at UFC 302’s co-main event. Common rival Israel Adesanya cautioned that despite his upright boxing, ‘Tarzan’ can come out strong with his linear onslaught of kicks. He does consider Paulo Costa the more dynamic of the two; having lost to Strickland, he knows his sudden bursts of power, though.
Paulo Costa can wobble with strong standup game, specifically from Sean Strickland (Source: heavy.com/IMAGO)Yet another name cautions the Brazilian similarly. Olympian and former champion Henry Cejudo co-hosts the Pound 4 Pound Podcast with Kamaru Usman. A while back, they weighed in on the chances Costa has.
Paulo Costa, there is one thing that I will say about him: He trains like a mad man, but because he trains like a freakin’ mad man, he gets hurt…He still hasn’t learned his lesson man and if he does just decide to strike with a guy like Sean Strickland, Strickland’s got better striking in my opinion…Maybe he doesn’t kick, but he out-struck your boy. He out-struck Israel Adesanya, and that was just based on pressure.
Henry Cejudo via the Pound 4 Pound Podcast
Costa has proven quite successful with a short burst of well-placed connects and sudden kicks. His scraps with ‘The Reaper’, Luke Rockhold, and even Yoel Romero were quite interesting that way. Cejudo says he can be a bully with how much he can pressure on that way. Yet, how does a bully fare against a greater bully?
Down the knee, Strickland is a stiffer beast, but against Adesanya, he burst out with immense, unexpected pressure like never before. Instead of a point fight, a fired-up Strickland wobbled him with overhands and slight kicks equally. Putting up such pressure consistently for three whole rounds, he dethroned Adesnaya at UFC 293. He has proven his striking clinic and sudden kicks could be just as dangerous, even for Costa.
