The strengths and weaknesses of Paulo Costa

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"The Eraser" Paulo Costa

As Floyd Mayweather once said, "someone's 0 has got to go". As the UFC returns to Abu Dhabi, the fighter who keeps his "0" also gets to walk away with the UFC Middleweight Championship at UFC 253.

Up until now, no one has quite figured out how to deal with Paulo Costa successfully. And despite what many people feel about him, he brings a lot to the table.

His crazy will to come forward and exchange is fun to watch, but painful at times too. That leads to him being an absolute nightmare for his opponents who often find themselves being backed into the fence, and right now at 29 years of age, Paulo Costa can do that. But as he moves forward that iron will and chin won't be solid cement. It'll have chips, and if there are no massive changes to his style; he'll be a footnote in UFC history.

Paulo Costa's offensive game is as high caliber as they come and his defensive wrestling is above average and underrated. Sure you can take him down, but he's never been on the mat for any significant length of time. One of Costa's biggest assets is he has laser fast hands; that both have lots of power in. He thrives in being able to overwhelm opponents.

Although he only goes to the legs about 10% of the time, Costa uses that to set everything else up. As most power punchers he headhunts 50% of the time and then rips the body at a 40% clip. Especially once an adversary starts to cover up.

But there's a downside to the way he fights as well. It's not built for a long career. Most fighters take 4-5 shots per minute, and that's on the higher end while Paulo Costa takes roughly 7 shots per minute. However, his response is devastating. He counters with approximately 9 significant strikes per minute. That's a plus 2 ratio, that has given him his 11 KO's out of his 13 wins.

Can Paulo Costa beat Israel Adesanya? Absolutely. Kelvin Gastelum is the only one in the UFC so far to truly almost beat "The Last Stylebender". And Costa hits about 50 times harder.

Costa has said he wants to kill Adesanya. And Israel's response is he just wants to punch him in the face as many times as possible. To get into a phone booth slugfest might not end well for the champion if he doesn't move side to side and stay on his bicycle. That's where Paulo Costa has issues right now.

Five times in his 8 times fighting in the UFC Israel has gone to the scorecards. That probably won't happen here. But if he can survive the 1st two rounds of pure hellish blitz coming at him, he'll have a better shot at retaining the strap.

Likewise, if Paulo Costa can clip Adesanya with a flurry early, it might be another 1st round win for the Brazilian.

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