Israel Adesanya celebrates a title defense at UFC 248.
Israel Adesanya calls fight with Paulo Costa “picture perfect”
In his last title fight at UFC 248, middleweight champion Israel Adesanya drew plenty of criticism for the lack of excitement in his win over Yoel Romero and now that he’s turned the page and looking at his next opponent, he’s promising fireworks. Although there is nothing officially scheduled yet, Adesanya is expected to face Paulo Costa in his next title defense and the beef between the two has been growing more and more since Adesanya won the title back at UFC 243.
During a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Adesanya discussed his most recent win over Yoel Romero, the disappointment that followed it, and the building rivalry between himself and Costa. There was plenty of criticism around Adesanya’s win over Romero because there wasn’t as much action as expected, and Adesanya said it’s because Romero fought like a statute.
“After that last fight and dealing with what I had to deal with a statute, I’m looking to actually to go in there and have fun this time.”
Bringing the focus back to himself and the rivalry with Costa, Adesanya told MMA Figthing that this fight is about him and nobody else, then went on to call this matchup “picture perfect”.
“This next fight is about me, it’s not really about Costa or anyone else. It’s about me proving myself. This is picture perfect. That’s why I love it. The way he looks, this juiced up monkey, evil Drag looking mother***ker. There’s a skinny boy coming in there to whoop his ass, and when he whoops his ass, the s**t I’m going to do to him afterwards. Oh my god.”
Adesanya and Costa have not held back in their back-and-forth trash talk with each other, and the reigning champion says he will make Costa pay for what he’s said in the past.
“All the sh*t he said leading up to this fight, he’s going to pay for it. He’s going to hear after the fight. Guarantee you.”
While currently there is no word on when a fight between the two will happen, it’s clear that Israel Adesanya plans to remove all criticism and doubt from his last appearance inside the Octagon, and he plans to make Paulo Costa pay for the things that have been said. Adesanya would credit Costa by saying the fight will be fun, and if the pre-fight trash talk is any indication, this fight could be filled with fireworks and memories.
