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Before before Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa take to the octagon for the main event, a packed preliminary card kicks off a return to Fight Island for the UFC 253.
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In the United States, the prelims (7 p.m. ET) will be televised on ESPN2, but if you don’t have cable, anyone in the US can watch all the UFC 253 prelim fights live on ESPN+:
ESPN+ has live coverage of nearly every UFC Fight Night and prelim card, as well as dozens of other live sports. It also includes every 30-for-30 documentary and additional original content (both video and written) all for $5.99 per month.
Additionally, if you plan on also watching the UFC 253 PPV, you can buy the PPV and a year of ESPN+ for 84.98, which works out to just over 25 percent savings:
Once signed up for ESPN+, you can watch the UFC 253 prelims live on the ESPN app on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
You can also watch the fights on your computer via ESPN.com.
UFC 253 Prelims Preview
While fight fans will have to wait until the main event to see Israel Adesanya fight, one of his teammates will be in the octagon for the featured prelim fight on Saturday against Alex Da Silva in a lightweight bout.
Riddle, a New Zealand native, has won his last five fights — two of those in the UFC. Da Silva is 1-1 in his last two.
“I’ve had two victories and I’m looking to make it a hat trick at UFC 253,” Riddle told the UFC’s official site. “I’m expecting a dangerous opponent in Alex da Silva. He’s young and hungry like me, so keep your eyes peeled for a Fight of the Night. We’re going to bring crazy energy to this scrap. Even talking about it now is getting me hyped up.”
Riddle isn’t making any predictions, but is eager for his first UFC knockout victory.
“I’m a realist, so I’m not going to predict that I will definitely knock him out. However, I will predict a crazy fight. It could be a crazy fast finish or a crazy war. Either way, you are going to be entertained.”
Riddle is a hefty -310 favorite to win the fight.
Veteran fighter Diego Sanchez is also on the prelim card, but could soon find himself part of a bigger bout. He recently called out UFC star Conor McGregor, who responded to his request this week.
“To Diego Sanchez… I seen your recent comments about your final bout and I am in! After you fought [Michel] Pereira, I had requested for myself and you to compete in Dublin,” McGregor wrote. “This was back in February when I was working on opposition for my season, pre COVID. Good luck this weekend!”
Sanchez is fighting Jake Matthews in his prelim and is a massive underdog. Matthews, who has won five of his last six fights, is a -750 favorite.
Early Prelims
Juan Espino vs. Jeff Hughes [heavyweight division]
Khadis Ibragimov vs. Danilo Marques [light heavyweight division]
Prelims
Brad Riddell vs. Alex Da Silva [lightweight division]
Diego Sanchez vs. Jake Matthews [welterweight division]
Ludovit Klein vs. Shane Young [featherweight division]
Aleksa Camur vs. William Knight [light heavyweight division]
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