On Saturday, Sept. 26, the UFC will host UFC 253: Adesanya vs. Costa from Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The event once again features no fans in attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the night’s main event, undefeated middleweight king Israel Adesanya defends his title against fellow unbeated Paulo Costa. The decorated kickboxer Adesanya stretched his record to 19-0 with a successful title defense against Yoel Romero at UFC 248 in March. Brazil’s Costa is also coming off a victory over Romero, a UFC 241 “Fight of the Night” performance against the Cuban.
Gold is also on the line in the co-main event as Dominick Reyes meets Poland’s Jan Błachowicz for the vacant 205-pound strap.
The event kicks off with six fights airing on both ESPN 2 and ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET. The five-fight main card follows live on ESPN+ pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET.
The fighters hit the scales on Friday, Sept. 25.
Dominick Reyes (205) vs. Jan Błachowicz (205) – for light heavyweight title
Kai Kara-France (126) vs. Brandon Royval (126)
Ketlen Vieira (136) vs. Sijara Eubanks (136)
Hakeem Dawodu (145) vs. Zubaira Tukhugov (150)*
Diego Sanchez (170) vs. Jake Matthews (170)
Shane Young (146) vs. Ľudovít Klein (150)*
William Knight (205) vs. Aleksa Camur (206)
Jeff Hughes (258) vs. Juan Espino (255)
Khadis Ibragimov (206) vs. Danilo Marques (206)
* – Tukhugov and Klein both missed the featherweight limit of 146 pounds.