By: Tobechi Obinwanne
Israel Adesanya will beat Paulo Costa. In my books, skill always trumps power in Martial Arts. Bob Sap is one clear example of this.
Look at Izzy Vs Whittaker.
On paper, Whittaker would have won. He was the champ, he was more muscular, and had better takedown moves and ground game. But on Fight Night, he had a lower fight IQ and Izzy dispatched him with a TKO.
What about Derek Bronson who kept taunting Izzy for being skinny and ended up getting KOd by Izzy.
If Costa would be his usual aggressive self, which is what Izzy would want, Izzy will win via a TKO or a KO.
Izzy, like Anderson Silva and Jon Jones, is one hell of a counter striker. Costa on the other hand, is a brawler.
Costa, will not want his fight to be as boring as Izzy Vs Romero, so he will be on the offensive, which is what Izzy would want him to do. For an average fighter, that is a high risk gamble because one mistake, and the lights go off. But that won’t happen with a top level counterstriker.
Izzy’s preparation for the fight will center around simulating Costa’s moves at his aggressive best and training for counters for Costa’s favourite combos while training for how to exploit openings in Costa’s attacks.
Costa on the other hand, knows that if he decides to do Romero Vs Izzy, Izzy will win and retain the belt.
But Costa already has built up emotions. I fear Izzy has messed up his mind with rage, and I fear he will want to unleash the beast in him on Izzy. But that is exactly what Izzy wants. Rage beclouds the mind. Martial arts is like chess. If your mind is clouded with emotions, it could jeopardize your chances of victory.
If I were Costa, I will forget about my ego and close my ears to the trash talk and go for Izzy’s weak point. Ground game. I would learn how to counter Izzy’s takedown defence, and force him to a ground game. If Costa does this, he will beat Izzy like a baby.
