Alessandro Costa and Kevin Borjas at UFC 301 ceremonial weigh-in Credit: Dylan Bowker/Cageside Press
On a night that concluded with a flyweight title fight, the card opener for UFC 301 took place in Rio, Brazil, pitting Alessandro Costa against Kevin Borjas.
Coincidentally, Brazil’s Costa was looking to bounce back from Saturday’s loss to title challenger Steve Erceg. Meanwhile, Borjas of Peru was looking for his first win in the UFC after the Contender Series alum Borjas was defeated in his previous debut.
The match begins cautiously in the first few seconds with both players assessing their opponent. It was probably Costa who decided on the first combination. He went up for a one-two and followed it up with a thumping calf kick. As Borjas threw punches, Costa countered with another hard leg kick. As Costa takes shots, Borjas deftly moves out of the way to avoid a takedown.
Costa used wild combinations to strike out several shots as Borjas evaded and counterattacked. Borjas was now bleeding from behind his ear and was missing from his flying knee. The two traded punches for a moment, but a few seconds later Costa caught Borjas with a powerful hook that sent his opponent stumbling against the cage. Costa went for another flying knee, but it narrowly missed and hit him in the neck. Borjas was briefly knocked to the ground and the two traded clinch before the bell rang seconds later.
It’s the start of a great night 💥
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— UFC (@ufc) May 4, 2024
As the second round began, Borjas landed a fierce combination, followed by an even more brutal calf kick to take him back. After just a couple more kicks to his legs, Borjas was on his back and began defending with ground and pound. After briefly regaining his feet, a leg kick from Costa drops Kevin again. Alessandro swarmed his severely injured opponent, who was still on the defensive but eventually abandoned full mount. Moments later, when Costa rained down punches on a clearly injured Kevin Borjas, the referee stepped in and brutally stopped the fight.
Official result: Alessandro Costa def. Kevin Borjas TKO (leg kick and punch), round 2, 1:35
