“Didn’t think Vettori was going to stand up and strike with Costa, which was surprising,” Israel Adesanya reacts to Paulo Costa vs Marvin Vettori, UFC Vegas 41 clash!

If anyone significant was eyeing closely the recent clash between former UFC’s middleweight title challengers Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori, it was the champion himself. Israel Adesanya took his Youtube channel to show his fans reacting to Costa and Vettori headlining UFC Vegas 41. Although both the fighters were middleweights, the fight was scheduled at light-heavyweight due to Costa’s inability to make weight at the 185-pound limit, the official weight of a middleweight.

Regardless, Vettori stayed professional and agreed to fight Costa under any terms and conditions. Vettori went on to defeat Paulo Costa on judges’ scorecards unanimously. With this, Adesanya has a number of title challengers in line for him, starting from Vettori, then you need to get the winner of fellow UFC middleweights Derek Brunson and Jared Cannonier, and finally, we got the former champion preceding Adesanya, Robert Whittaker.

What Israel Adesanya had to say on Paulo Costa vs Marvin Vettori

Adesanya saw the fight while mixing some arbitrarily hilarious comments on his former opponents and genuine takeaways from both the fighters’ fighting styles. He was impressed by how both the fighters fought with an open stance. Vettori’s rhythm into boxing and Costa’s random power kicks were intriguing to the middleweight king. He was looking forward to the follow-up of Costa’s takedown of Vettori but was disappointed later on.

Finally, the fight was over and Adesanya gave his overall insight. “I just didn’t think Vettori was going to stand up and strike with him [Costa], which was surprising… I felt like he [Vettori] would’ve had better success, especially with Costa committing heavy wrestling him and he didn’t,” said Adesanya. “With the inside leg kicks, I wish he [Costa] did that more, he stayed with that inside leg because that was working, he tried to hip train at one point, but he was this [very] close.”

Adesanya isn’t much affected by UFC President Dana White’s news on Costa fighting at light-heavyweight from now on. He is also hoping that Jared Cannonier wins against Derek Brunson so that Cannonier and Adesanya can fight, a match the champ was highly interested in historically. However, in a rather very ambiguous, subtle way, Adesanya told that the Robert Whittaker rematch is in the works behind the scenes and may happen early next year.

Adesanya is into week 10 of lockdown as imposed in his home country of New Zealand. He has been staying busy with his YouTube channel and training in his home as of now and is rightfully waiting for his next title challenger in line, probably after Whittaker. The City Kickboxing Gym’s move to the United States is all set to sail soon but the new location is not decided yet.

Also Read: “I think that’s genius,” UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping on Nate Diaz vs Tony Ferguson

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