Israel Adesanya vs Paulo Costa, the headliner of UFC 253, will be an important fight for several reasons. Apart from the middleweight title settlement, it will hold a lot in store for the fans and the sport.

Adesanya and Costa are two of the most lethal strikers. Their sheer accuracy has troubled all of their opponents till now. They are currently undefeated, which is also alluring for the matchup, considering one fighter’s clean record is going to fall apart.

That said, it’s hard to predict who would gain an upper hand in the middleweight thriller. Amid all the speculations, some interesting stats that intensify the fight on papers. That said, these statistics might not influence the outcome of the fight, but are enough to grab attention.

Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa are already putting a show on papers

The middleweight division is one of the deepest rosters in the promotion, having several legends in the list. However, Costa and Adesanya are already giving them a hard time. As per the finding of MMA by numbers, Israel Adesanya is one of the four fighters to have secured at least 10 knockdowns in the middleweight history.

Anderson Silva tops the chart with 13 knockdowns in 20 fights and Nathan Marquardt is on the second spot with 12 knockdowns in 23 fights. In the third spot, there is a tie between ‘The Last Style Blender’ and ‘The Soldier of God’.

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Yoel Romero has 10 knockdowns in 13 fights, while Adesanya has 10 in just 8 appearances. Also, Adesanya has already beaten Romero and Anderson Silva from the list. Thus, his dominance in the division is unparalleled.

However, Paulo Costa is equally dominant. MMA by numbers cites another finding of the most significant strikes landed per minute in UFC history.

While the promotion has seen several elite strikers, ‘Costa’ leads the chart with 8.43 strikes/minute. Surprisingly, within just 5 fights, Costa has surpassed Cain Velasquez, Justin Gaethje, Max Holloway, and Shane Burgos among others. Thus, it is safe to believe that he will charge the middleweight champion with full force on September 26.

The trail of victories by stoppage and decision

There are some major differences between the wins of Costa and Adesanya. Although there’s no doubt regarding Adesanya’s dominance, he has still notched only 3 of his 8 wins, or 37.5% of his total fights, in the UFC via stoppage.

Meanwhile, Costa has won 4 of his 5 wins in the UFC via knockouts. His last fight against Yoel Romero is the only contest that went to the judge’s scorecard. However. The Brazilian was awarded with a comfortable win. His stoppage rate is 89% right now.

It is no surprise that fans are excited about the match. The middleweight blockbuster promises intense fireworks when the cage closes on September 26 at UFC 253.