Getty Israel Adesanya
Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa highlight a loaded card when they square off with the middleweight championship on the line at UFC 253 on Saturday night.
You can only buy the UFC 253 PPV if you have an ESPN+ subscription. Here’s a complete rundown of everything you need to know to watch Adesanya vs Costa and all the other UFC 253 fights:
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If You Don’t Have ESPN+: You can buy a special bundle deal that includes a one-year subscription to ESPN+ ($49.99 value) and UFC 253 ($64.99 value) for $84.98, which works out to about 26 percent savings.
If You Have ESPN+: You can buy the UFC 253 PPV by itself for $64.99.
Or, if you only have a monthly ESPN+ subscription (and you don’t have the Disney+ bundle), you can still get the special package deal that includes a year of ESPN+ and the UFC 253 PPV. The only difference is that instead of starting a new ESPN+ subscription, you’ll just extend your current subscription by a year and get the UFC 253 PPV for a total of $84.98.
Once you’re signed up for ESPN+ and you’ve purchased the PPV, you can watch UFC 253: Adesanya vs Costa on your computer via ESPN.com, or you can watch on the ESPN app on any compatible connected-to-TV streaming device, such as:
Roku or Roku TV
Amazon Firestick or Fire TV
Apple TV
Chromecast
PlayStation 4
Xbox One
iPhone or iPad
Android phone or tablet
Samsung Smart TV
Oculus Go
For all of those options, you’ll need to sign in with your ESPN+ account to watch both the prelims (ESPN+) and the main card (ESPN+ PPV).
UFC 253 Preview
There will be two title fights on the UFC 253 card: Adesanya vs Costa and Dominick Reyes vs. Jan Błachowicz. Both Adesanya (19-0) and Costa (13-0) enter the fight undefeated, and the current UFC middleweight champ thinks he knows why he’ll emerge victorious.
“He’s a dangerous man. I’ve said this before, as well, but so am I,” Adesanya said about Costa prior to the bout. “What’s going to be his downfall is his lacklusterness. When it comes to me, he thinks like ahh, he’s just going to walk through whatever I throw at him. Alright, I welcome him to try.”
After winning the belt last year, Adesanya successfully defended it against Yoel Romero this spring, winning by decision.
For his part, Costa says he takes umbrage with his opponent’s attitude, and he takes it personally. “Adesanya is a disrespectful fighter,” Costa said this week. “Everybody knows, and if you don’t know just Google his name and you will see him talk bad things about the American people. So that’s why I don’t like him. He says disrespectful things about me also so I brought this fight as a personal fight.”
The card’s other championship fight features two deserving contenders squaring off for the Light Heavyweight Championship recently vacated by Jon Jones. Dominick Reyes (12-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) and Jan Błachowicz (26-8 MMA, 9-5 UFC) each have hopes of walking away with the belt, and with his only (and most recent) loss coming at the hands of Jones, Reyes has already dubbed himself “the uncrowned king.”
By the look of things, it seems both fighters are having a hard time getting out from under Jones’ shadow. “I see myself knocking him out in the third round,” Blachowicz said about Reyes this week. “We will see, maybe I get a decision or submit him. I’ll be ready for everything. When I beat him by stoppage I know I am the best in the world, better than Jon Jones. Maybe my next fight will be against Jon Jones.”
With both fighters already looking ahead and crowning themselves, it will be interesting to see which one comes out on top.
Here’s a look at the featured matchups on the main card:
- Middleweight Championship: Israel Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa
- Light Heavyweight Championship: Dominick Reyes vs. Jan Błachowicz
- Flyweight Matchup: Kai Kara-France vs. Brandon Royval
- Women’s Bantamweight Matchup: Sijara Eubanks vs. Ketlen Vieira
- Featherweight Matchup: Hakeem Dawodu vs. Zubaira Tukhugov