The UFC Middleweight Title is going to be defended in the main event of UFC 253 as Israel Adesanya defends the gold against #2 Paulo Costa.
Raphael Marino of Combate first reported the main event encounter, as Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje was previously reported to be the UFC 253 main event.
Adesanya (19-0-0) is making the second defense of his championship, previously defending it against Yoel Romero at UFC 248. Adesanya is a former UFC Interim Middleweight Champion, but unified that belt with the UFC Middleweight Title after defeating Robert Whittaker at UFC 243. Adesanya has previously headlined four UFC cards and three of those main event encounters went the distance.
Costa (13-0-0) has already picked up five wins under the UFC banner, with notable victories coming over Johny Hendricks, Uriah Hall and the aforementioned Romero. Costa has picked up thirteen wins as a professional MMA fighter and eleven of them came by way of KO/TKO. Costa is going to be headlining his first ever UFC card, despite having been with the promotion for over three years.
UFC 253 takes place on Saturday, September 19 from a location to be announced with Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
