Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa almost come to blows at face-off

Two UFC star’s have been trading verbal blows for weeks, on Saturday they came face-to-face and things threatened to boil over.

The two men almost came to blows on Saturday.

The verbal barbs have been flying between Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa for months in the lead up to their highly-anticipated UFC 253 showdown.

On Saturday the two men stepped onto the stage to face-off and threatened to start throwing down then and there.

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As they stood on either side of UFC boss Dana White, Adesanya noticed something under the shirt of his opponent.

The Brazilian challenger lifted his shirt to reveal his jiu jitsu black belt, before reaching into his pocket and pulling a white belt out and saying to the middleweight champion: “I have a gift for you.”

But as Costa handed the belt over to Adesanya, the champ wanted no part of the “gift” and threw it back in his face.

“You’re going to need that [the white belt] when you get downgraded … I’m going to knock your ass out, b****,” Adesanya said as White jumped in between the two.

“I’ll knock your ass out,” Adesanya repeated as he was held back by security. “What you going to do?”

Watch Israel Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa at UFC 253 on Sunday. Order now on Main Event!

"I'll knock your ass out!"

Listen into Adesanya & Costa's exchange 🎤 *NSFW*

[ #UFC253 - LIVE on ESPN+ PPV: https://t.co/QLKv2kXvtD ] pic.twitter.com/lWX7isaFyD

— UFC (@ufc) September 25, 2020

Things got testy between the two men a day earlier when Costa said he’d be happy for the fight to go to the canvas and become a grappling contest.

“You never put a gi on your skinny body,” he said. “Talk about jiu-jitsu with me. You’re crazy.”

Both men weighed in successfully, with Adesanya tipping the scales at 184 pounds as Costa hit 185 pounds.

Adesanya is ready to defend the belt.

HOW TO WATCH

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MAIN CARD: Watch Israel Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa at UFC 253 on Sunday. Order now on Main Event!

START TIME IN AUSTRALIA

The early prelims on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi will begin at 9.00am (AEST), with the televised prelims at 10am, and the main card getting underway at 12pm.

FULL CARD

Main Card

Israel Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa (2) — middleweight title

Dominick Reyes (1) vs. Jan Blachowicz (3) — light heavyweight

Kai Kara-France (7) vs. Brandon Royval — flyweight

Ketlen Vieira (7) vs. Sijara Eubanks (13) — women’s bantamweight

Hakeem Dawodu vs. Zubaira Tukhugov — featherweight

Prelims

Brad Riddell vs. Alex Da Silva — lightweight

Diego Sanchez vs. Jake Matthews — welterweight

Shane Young vs. Nate Landwehr — featherweight

William Knight vs. Aleksa Camur — light heavyweight

Early Prelims

Juan Espino vs. Jeff Hughes — heavyweight

Khadis Ibragimov vs. Danilo Marques — light heavyweight