“Y’all must have forgot,” Adesanya claimed afterwards, referencing the great boxer Roy Jones Jnr. “Y’all must have forgot because of the last fight. ‘Oh, he’s so boring. Blah, blah, blah.’ But trust me. I had to make you all remember. I had to remind the world why we the best.”

If anyone who still doubted that – after Adesanya had defended the belt in a lacklustre bout against Cuban-American Yoel Romero back in March – they should officially stand corrected.

It was officially over at 3:59 of the second inside the Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi, a TKO that had come after a head kick softened Costa up, and a furious combination put him down. Truth is it looked over when the reality of the situation hit the Brazilian during the first round, where Adesanya (20-0) went to work on Costa’s lead leg, turning it a nasty shade of red.

UFC 253: Blachowicz stops Reyes to win light heavyweight title

The Brazilian (13-1) tried to ramp up the chatter – calling Adesanya forward and trying to convince him, and the world, that there was no damage being done. But the fact Costa was backing up by the second told the real story.

Then “The Last Stylebender” found his range. Then he just overpowered the Brazilian.

At 31 years old and unbeaten, Adesanya looks to the future just as much as he looks like the future of the middleweight division. Sunday made it two title defences – both times he’s pretty much looked unbothered by what his opponents bring to the cage.

The call out afterwards came to the third-ranked Jared Cannonier, the American who is at 13-4 and at UFC 254 on October 24 faces Australia’s Robert Whittaker (21-5), the guy who lost his belt to Adesanya.

“Anderson Silva lived a great legacy and I said I want to do service to the middleweight division and that’s a hard act to follow,” said Adesanya. “But we’re doing the work. I already DM’d Jared Cannonier. He’s a hell of a dude. I love his energy. He’s a beautiful man. I said, ‘You destroy Robert Whittaker and you’re next.’ He deserves it.

Adesanya began by attacking Costa’s lead leg and he kept that mode of attack up throughout the first, from calf to knee and back again. Costa was trying to talk, and draw the Kiwi forward but Adesanya was wise to that caper.

As he showed last time out against Romero (13-5), Adesanya is a master of thinking on his feet and adapting to what’s in front of him. If there’s distance, he’ll use his long limbs to strike – and then stay safe.

It worked a treat.

The sparks had been flying between the pair for months, ignited by Costa when he appeared cageside during Adesanya’s successful title defence against the enigma Romero back in March. Taking a leaf out of the pro-wrestling playbook, Costa had called out the Kiwi from the safety of the seats, then even made an impromptu appearance at the post-fight press conference.

The pair had then gone back and forth across social media and then in the flesh on arrival in the Middle East. Adesanya said he wasn’t bothered by it all but the Kiwi looked a little heated at times.

Come the bell and he looked cool, calm and completely collected.

Costa had shown in his own won over Romero that he could take a punch – or many – but the question was could he go five rounds, and could he deal with Adesanya’s movement, and his superior reach (of eight inches).

Turns out he couldn’t. Costa stood off. Tried to lure Adesanya with banter and instead – to paraphrase the words of commentator Paul Felder – the chap kicked him and kicked him and then he knocked him out.