Adrian Yanez survives round one to finish Randy Costa at UFC on ESPN 27
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to the UFC Apex Center in Las Vegas, Nevada tonight, July 24, 2021 for UFC on ESPN 27.
The card is to be headlined by former five-time UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw, who makes his long awaited return in the main event. He’s been out two-and-a-half years, but he looks to get that belt back he never lost in a fight, and it starts here tonight.
Opposing him is No. 2 ranked bantamweight contender Cory Sandhagen, who is on a two-fight win streak after knocking out former six-time WSOF bantamweight champion Marlon Moraes and former four-time UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar, both in devastating fashion.
Does Dillashaw get back on track, where he left off in the bantamweight division, or does Sandhagen add another multi-time world champion to his highlight reel?
Co-headlining the event comes another bantamweight clash, this one between Kyler Phillips and Raulian Paiva, following the scrapped booking between Aspen Ladd and Macy Chiasson.
Opening up the main card tonight came yet another bout contested in the 135 lb division, as streaking knockout artists Adrian Yanez and Randy Costa went to battle in a three round affair.
Yanez came into the bout with a record of 13-3, having gone 2-0 thus far inside the octagon with two beautiful performances ending in knockouts, while Costa came in with a record of just 6-1, having gone 2-1 thus far into his UFC career with two vicious knockouts of his own.
Costa’s last two victories come inside of three combined minutes. In fact, he hasn’t gone past 2:15 of round one in a victory, and Yanez’ last two victories come inside three rounds time. This one’s expected to be an absolute banger!
Which of these 27 year old talents keeps their streak going and makes it three-straight?
Continue reading to see how this epic bantamweight contest went down:
Official Result: Adrian Yanez def. Randy Costa via TKO (punches) at 2:11 of round two
Round 1
Costa opens with a lead left head kick, and follows it up with another, partially landing the second one. He then starts to throw his right high kick, and then some body kicks.
He’s looking incredible at range, as he normally does. Then Costa starts to get his hands going, starting with his jab, which snaps Yanez’ head back each time he lands it.
Costa then starts to land his cross behind it, and it’s starting to look a lot like Sean O’Malley versus Kris Moutinho.
Costa starts to slow down a little bit around the last minute of the round, but he’s had a stellar round one.
Round 2
Yanez gets right in Costa’s grill to start round two, controlling the center of the octagon and getting his jab going.
Costa is visibly fatigued, and Yanez is starting to get his own beautiful combinations going.
Yanez cracks Costa with a nice left hook and follows it up with a right uppercut that drops him. A few more punches is all it took at the fight was over.
Adrian Yanez is now 3-0 in the UFC with three knockouts, and Costa is now 2-2 in the UFC, both defeats coming in round two.
