The UFC is back this weekend with a big pay-per-view event this Saturday night at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi that features two title fights that should be pretty darn fun.
The co-main event is the battle for the light heavyweight belt that the legendary Jon Jones recently gave up in order to make the move to heavyweight. Dominick Reyes, who lost to Jones via decision back in February, takes on Jan Blachowicz, who has won three straight fights.
The main event is the one I really can’t wait for as Paolo Costa faces middleweight champ Isreal Adesanya.
Here are three reasons to watch UFC 253.
3. Diego Sanchez is on the card.
If Diego Sanchez is fighting then I’m watching, it’s just one of those things that I live my life by. Sanchez, of course, is the last fighter from The Ultimate Fighter 1 still in the fight game and there’s no telling how many more times we’ll be able to see him in the Octagon. The 38 year old is taking on Jake Matthews in the preliminary card and who knows what fun stuff Sanchez is going to try to pull off in the fight and who knows what kind of crazy stuff he’s going to say leading up to it. As I said before, I’m all in on his fights.
2. Who will take Jon Jones’ old belt?
Dominick Reyes came very, very close to beating Jones back at UFC 247 when he lost a close decision that many thought should have gone his way. Reyes desperately wanted a rematch with Jones, but that isn’t happening now. Instead, Reyes gets to fight Jan Blachowicz for the title and this should be a fun one. Blachowicz has won two of his last three fights via KOs and should be looking to to end another fight with his fists. Reyes’ only loss was the one to Jones, so he seems primed to have a belt wrapped around his waist.
1. Costa vs. Adesanya could be an instant classic.
Adesanya is one of the most exciting fighters we’ve seen in years. Well, his last fight against Yoel Romero was anything but exciting, but I’m hoping that was just a matchup issue and he had to do his best to stay away from a one-punch knockout. We haven’t seen Costa in the Octagon since UFC 241 just over 13 months ago when he beat Romero in a legendary fight that was full of beautiful violence. This title fight will hopefully have those types of fireworks, as there is some bad blood between these two guys, even if they had a funny run-in this week in Abu Dhabi.