Tonight’s huge pay-per-view will feature two undefeated titans clashing for the UFC Middleweight title and the crowning of a new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.
In the main event, Israel Adesanya (19 - 0) will defend his 185-pound belt for the second time of his career against Paulo Costa (13 – 0). Both men enter the contest undefeated, with Adesanya's most notable wins being over Robert Whittaker, Yoel Romero, and Anderson Silva.
On the other hand, Costa comes in with 11 TKO wins on his record, with Johny Hendricks and Uriah Hall as some of the names who suffered a devastating loss to the Brazilian.
In the co-main event, a new light heavyweight title holder will be determined as Dominick Reyes (12 – 1) will fight Jan Blachowicz (26 – 8) for the 205-pound belt. Even though Reyes is coming off a narrow loss to Jon Jones, the 30-year-old has gotten impressive wins over top ranked competitors such as Chris Weidman and Jared Cannonier.
Blachowicz enters the match-up with some momentum himself, as the veteran is currently in the midst of a three-fight winning streak that saw him drop former UFC Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold and former No. 4 ranked UFC Light Heavyweight Corey Anderson.
Also expect Kai Kara-France, Sijara Eubanks, Hakeem Dawodu, Diego Sanchez, Alex Da Silva, Shane Young, Aleksa Camur, and Jeff Hughes to be in action. Check out the confirmed line-up for tonight’s UFC 253 pay-per-view:
UFC 253 PPV Main Card on ESPN+ (10 p.m. ET):
UFC Middleweight Championship: Israel Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa
UFC Light Heavyweight Championship: Dominick Reyes vs. Jan Blachowicz
Kai Kara-France vs. Brandon Royval
Ketlen Vieira vs. Sijara Eubanks
Hakeem Dawodu vs. Zubaira Tukhugov
UFC 253 Prelims Card on ESPN2/ESPN+ (8 p.m. ET):
Brad Riddell vs. Alex Da Silva
Diego Sanchez vs. Jake Matthews
Ludovit Klein vs. Shane Young
Aleksa Camur vs. William Knight
UFC 253 Prelims Card on ESPN2/ESPN+ (7 p.m. ET):
Juan Espino vs. Jeff Hughes
Khadis Ibragimov vs. Danilo Marques