Israel Adesanya says there's plenty left for him to achieve in the UFC as he looks to cement his legacy following a spectacular knockout victory against Paulo Costa at UFC 253 in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
The undefeated middleweight champion, 31, demonstrated his star power once more by picking apart the previously unbeaten Costa within two rounds, earning a TKO at Flash Forum to retain his title. The event marked the first of five in the second Fight Island series in the capital.
With the win, Adesanya climbed to 20-0 in professional mixed martial arts and 9-0 in the UFC. It was his second successful defence of the belt, and the seventh ranked fighter he has seen off in the division. Costa, meanwhile, departed with the first blemish in his 14-fight pro career.
Asked in the post-fight press conference what he still had to prove, a triumphant Adesanya replied: “There’s a lot left to do in this game, and I’m just steadily working my way day-by-day, fight-by-fight. Seven guys in the top 15; Paulo only fought two. And everyone was like, ‘This Israel’s all hype, it’s all hype’. But I love the hype. And if there was any hype job it was him. I ain’t no hype job, but I’m all hype.”
Adesanya confirmed he would next take on No 3 contender Jared Cannonier – despite eying a move up in future to light heavyweight or heavyweight – should the American get past former champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 254 in Abu Dhabi on October 24. He has already defeated Whittaker, when he claimed the middleweight crown last October.
However, Adesanya said he was more concerned with checking off all worthy challengers than retaining the gold.
Pointing to the belt alongside him, the Nigerian-born athlete said: “This thing is beautiful, but it doesn’t mean anything. For me, it’s about the victories, it’s the champions, the names you collect, the scalps you take along the way.
“If I had lost tonight – god forbid – I wouldn’t care about this; I would’ve been sad that I lost the fight. All I care about is fighting. This is just nice, because cheddar makes it better. It brings more money, more notoriety, all that. I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing and my legacy will be cemented in time.”
As UFC president Dana White put it, Adesanya “dismantled” Costa in a brutal display of wicked kicking before putting him down with a hefty right hand to the temple. Billed as a Fight of the Year contender, and the toughest test of Adesanya’s career to date, he stopped Costa 3:59 minutes into the second round. Adesanya said he knew after the first round that he had his long-time rival's number.
I was so fresh, I looked over, I could see he was sitting down
“I was so fresh, I looked over, I could see he was sitting down,” he said. “He just wanted me to stand there so he could punch me. I’m not stupid, dummy. I’m smart. I understand this game.
"This was my 100th win in combat sports all around. I’ve had over 100 fights. I’m not a baby in this game. I’ve been in this for a long time. And I’m still fresh. I’m 31, I look like I’m 26.
“My narrative for this fight, because everybody was saying he’s a bully, he walks people down. And it’s not news to anyone that I’ve been bullied my whole life. For me, back then I didn’t really have the skill or the will to fight back. And now I know what to do; I have the will and the skill to take the bite out of the bully.
“Even some of the [stuff] he did online. Back then, we didn’t have that when I was growing up, but now kids go through that social-media bullying. And he was trying to do that to me. It’s like he was trying to trigger out the younger Izzy. But you do that and you get the big dog in the yard now.
“I dedicate this fight to anyone, whether it be at school or at home or at work if your boss is grinding you. I dedicate this fight to you guys because you have to fight back. You can't just take that all the time – you have to bite back.”
On whether he will beat Anderson Silva’s record of dominance at middleweight, Adesanya said: “Yes, but that’s not my goal. I’m not trying to repeat because there’ll never be another Anderson Silva.
“For me it’s just being me, being the last and only ‘Stylebender’ and just keep doing what I’m doing. All the guys he ran through on his run, I would’ve beat them as well. So it’s not about quantity, it’s about the quality. And already I’ve some really good quality wins under my belt. That’s my 15th knockout in MMA and my 100th win in fighting. So I’m not chasing his legacy, I’m chasing my own legacy.”
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Left Bank: Art, Passion and Rebirth of Paris 1940-1950
Agnes Poirer, Bloomsbury
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
EXPATS
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War 2
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 2/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Retirement funds heavily invested in equities at a risky time
Pension funds in growing economies in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East have a sharply higher percentage of assets parked in stocks, just at a time when trade tensions threaten to derail markets.
Retirement money managers in 14 geographies now allocate 40 per cent of their assets to equities, an 8 percentage-point climb over the past five years, according to a Mercer survey released last week that canvassed government, corporate and mandatory pension funds with almost $5 trillion in assets under management. That compares with about 25 per cent for pension funds in Europe.
The escalating trade spat between the US and China has heightened fears that stocks are ripe for a downturn. With tensions mounting and outcomes driven more by politics than economics, the S&P 500 Index will be on course for a “full-scale bear market” without Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts, Citigroup’s global macro strategy team said earlier this week.
The increased allocation to equities by growth-market pension funds has come at the expense of fixed-income investments, which declined 11 percentage points over the five years, according to the survey.
Hong Kong funds have the highest exposure to equities at 66 per cent, although that’s been relatively stable over the period. Japan’s equity allocation jumped 13 percentage points while South Korea’s increased 8 percentage points.
The money managers are also directing a higher portion of their funds to assets outside of their home countries. On average, foreign stocks now account for 49 per cent of respondents’ equity investments, 4 percentage points higher than five years ago, while foreign fixed-income exposure climbed 7 percentage points to 23 per cent. Funds in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are among those seeking greater diversification in stocks and fixed income.
• Bloomberg
SPEC SHEET
Display: 6.8" edge quad-HD dynamic Amoled 2X, Infinity-O, 3088 x 1440, 500ppi, HDR10 , 120Hz
Processor: 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1/Exynos 2200, 8-core
Memory: 8/12GB RAM
Storage: 128/256/512GB/1TB
Platform: Android 12
Main camera: quad 12MP ultra-wide f/2.2, 108MP wide f/1.8, 10MP telephoto f/4.9, 10MP telephoto 2.4; Space Zoom up to 100x, auto HDR, expert RAW
Video: 8K@24fps, 4K@60fps, full-HD@60fps, HD@30fps, super slo-mo@960fps
Front camera: 40MP f/2.2
Battery: 5000mAh, fast wireless charging 2.0 Wireless PowerShare
Connectivity: 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC
I/O: USB-C
SIM: single nano, or nano and SIM, nano and nano, eSIM/nano and nano
Colours: burgundy, green, phantom black, phantom white, graphite, sky blue, red
Price: Dh4,699 for 128GB, Dh5,099 for 256GB, Dh5,499 for 512GB; 1TB unavailable in the UAE
TOURNAMENT INFO
Fixtures
Sunday January 5 - Oman v UAE
Monday January 6 - UAE v Namibia
Wednesday January 8 - Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 - Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid, Darius D’Silva, Karthik Meiyappan, Jonathan Figy, Vriitya Aravind, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Chirag Suri
Yahya Al Ghassani's bio
Date of birth: April 18, 1998
Playing position: Winger
Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
The specs
Engine: 2.4-litre 4-cylinder
Transmission: CVT auto
Power: 181bhp
Torque: 244Nm
Price: Dh122,900
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Barcelona v Liverpool, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE).
Second leg
Liverpool v Barcelona, Tuesday, May 7, 11pm
Games on BeIN Sports
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BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
EPL's youngest
- Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
15 years, 181 days old
- Max Dowman (Arsenal)
15 years, 235 days old
- Jeremy Monga (Leicester)
15 years, 271 days old
- Harvey Elliott (Fulham)
16 years, 30 days old
- Matthew Briggs (Fulham)
16 years, 68 days old
The%20pillars%20of%20the%20Dubai%20Metaverse%20Strategy
%3Cp%3EEncourage%20innovation%20in%20the%20metaverse%20field%20and%20boost%20economic%20contribution%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EDevelop%20outstanding%20talents%20through%20education%20and%20training%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EDevelop%20applications%20and%20the%20way%20they%20are%20used%20in%20Dubai's%20government%20institutions%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAdopt%2C%20expand%20and%20promote%20secure%20platforms%20globally%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EDevelop%20the%20infrastructure%20and%20regulations%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
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Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
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