At UFC 253 next month, middleweight champion Israel Adesanya will face Paulo Costa. Ahead of the fight, the champ throws some pretty serious accusations towards the challenger.
The fight between Adesanya and Costa has been in the works for a while, with a real rivalry between the two. However it was delayed when Costa suffered an injury following his win over Yoel Romero, leading to Izzy getting his first title defense against Romero. That being said, it seems that the fight between the two will go down next month, provided Costa can shed the insane amounts of weight he has to cut for the fight.
Israel Adesanya Says Paulo Costa Is Juiced Up
One of the major talking points ahead of this fight, is the sheer differences between Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa. The champ is a lanky counter striker, while the challenger is an enormous power puncher who comes forward. This is something that Israel alluded to at the virtual media day recently. However he suggested a pretty interesting reason why Costa is so massive.
“It’s the aesthetic of it,” Adesanya said. “Like, I’m this skinny person, this little frail kid that everyone looks at, and he looks like the perfect antagonist. He’s big, bulky and juiced up to the f–king gills. He’s a marauder, he’s a guy that beats everybody on the fence, so when I come out there with the Bruce Lee s–t and f–k him up, it’s going to be ‘oh my god wow, he beat that big muscle boy.’
“Like the casuals are going to feed off it, and I love that because it means more eyes, more attention,” Adesanya continued. “Like I said, you can watch my fights, you don’t have to watch my fights, but you’re going to pay. I’m not talking money, I’m talking you’re going to pay attention, and attention turns to (money) as always.”
Calling Paulo Costa "the perfect antagonist," @stylebender loves the aesthetic of a skinny guy "doing Bruce Lee s—" to a "big muscle boy." pic.twitter.com/iHAaTFpEJg
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) August 19, 2020
This is a pretty interesting way of looking at things. Israel Adesanya is correct that attention typically turns to dollars, but he has a tough test in front him in Paulo Costa. It will be interesting to see how these two match up.
