Adesanya won’t dictate the fight: Paulo Costa


Adesanya won’t dictate the fight: Paulo Costa
Paulo Costa staggers an impressive 13-0 record in his professional MMA career

Challenger Paulo Costa is the toughest opponent till date for Israel Adesanya. Adesanya will fight to defend his title at UFC 253. Costa has an impressive record of 13-0 in his professional MMA career. This is Adesanya’s second title defence. In the first attempt he successfully defeated Yoel Romero, winning via unanimous decision. But that does not change the approach of Paulo Costa to end preceding’s with the middleweight champion. 

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Known for his highlight reel knockouts, Costa wants to pressure Adesanya, but he’s not going to risk making a mistake for the sake of an entertaining fight. 

First of all, I think he’ a counter striker” Costa said at Wednesday’s media day. “Everybody here saw when he fought Romero. If one guy doesn’t push him, he will not push out. He stood; the guy came for him.” 

Paulo Costa eager to knock out Israel Adesanya 

Costa was adamant on the fact that this fight is not about power vs precision. Rather he emphasised on not getting enough credit for his technical skills. If anything about Adesanya has surprised Costa, it’s the relatively cordial meeting they had this past weekend. The two have expressed public disdain for each other in the past, trading a multitude of insults and slights over social media and in interviews. 

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“I don’t know what happened because he changed a lot his personality, his persona,” Costa said. “Because the Adesanya that I saw on a video conference was a very disrespectful guy, he show his [middle fingers] all the time to me. But when I met him upstairs, he was very kind, very gentlemen. When I saw him I was waiting for a different kind of guy.” 

Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa

For him, he came and he gave his hand to shake his hand and he asked me, ‘How are you feeling? Feeling good?’ ‘Okay, I’m good.’ He said, ‘You look very good.’ … So it’s okay. If he changed, okay.” 

The rivalry between the two has generated as much interest as any in UFC history, with one comparing it to the legendary feud between legends Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort. Adesanya has cited Silva as one of his greatest influences, while Costa’s power-punching has often seen him mentioned in the same breath as Belfort.

Having said all that whatever happens at UFC 253 is only up to time to tell but one thing is for sure, that this fight is way more than just a title defence.

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Also Read: Israel Adesanya connects with his former teachers, ahead of UFC 253