Israel Adesanya will take on Paulo Costa for the UFC Middleweight at UFC 253. Israel Adesanya will defend his UFC title for the second time after having picked up a unanimous decision win over Yoel Romero at UFC 248. Both the fighters are undefeated inside the octagon. It will be interesting to see which fighter will lose his undefeated win-streak in MMA. After a lackluster performance against Yoel Romero, Israel Adesanya has been facing a lot of criticism. However, Adesanya sees this as an opportunity and will look to cement his position as one of the best Middleweight wit win over Paulo Costa.
kids please close your eyes. Sorry guys but I just can’t stop to post this memes 😅😃lol pic.twitter.com/orj3dwhA6q
— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) August 21, 2020
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Both the fighters appeared alongside in the lead up to fight on SportsCenter, and mayhem ensued. Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa share a genuine hatred towards each other. It was evident when soon after his emphatic win over Robert Whittaker, Adesanya called out Paulo Costa for the UFC Middleweight Championship.
Israel Adesanya has bad blood against Paulo Costa
Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa were scheduled to face each other in early 2020. However, the bout fell apart after Paulo Costa pulled out of the fight due to injury. It didn’t go well when both the fighters came face to face, with both of them having an argument over the origin of their rivalry against each other.
“Let’s rewind. Go back to Ultimate fighter 27 finale. That’s when I fought Brad Travares. And the next night he fought Uriah Hall. Yeah, he did all right had a TKO stoppage. Then I saw him backstage and he would not make eye contact with him. He just kept on staring at the wall about 5 feet away from him. He literally just found something in the wall rather than confront.” Adesanya continued, “You know who the f**k I am now. I am the champ.”
The angry pink birds pic.twitter.com/sebqghZUBg
— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) August 21, 2020
Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa’s rivalry goes back to several years when both the fighters were rising contender in the Middleweight division. It is interesting to see both of them make it big in the division and fight for the Championship belt next month.
Paulo Costa had this to say about the entire situation with Israel Adesanya.
“I remember I saw him. My fight was in Vegas, right? I don’t remember that part. But I saw you walking in the hall of the hotel. But I thought this guy is so skinny he does not look like a fighter. After that people told me you fought one day before me. But I did not know who you are.”
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