Israel Adesanya won a unanimous decision victory over Anderson Silva at UFC 234 and it was said the winner would get a shot at the middleweight title. While the fight was great and earned “Fight of the night” accolades, not all the fighters watching in the division were impressed. The milestone fight and win for the Nigerian middleweight has certainly made his presence known to those he shares the division with.
Not long after the fight, middleweights Paulo Costa and Chris Weidman gave their criticisms on social media that they were seemingly unimpressed with Adesanya. When asked on The MMA Hour if he pays any attention to it, Adesanya said, “I didn’t really pay any mind to it”.
Weidman called Adesanya “overrated” which Adesanya found interesting and believes the opinion comes from Weidman earning a finish against Silva when they fought. As far as Costa’s comments, he had a more colorful response calling him, a “juice monkey” among other choice words for the number seven-ranked middleweight.
Since joining the UFC Costa has won four fights in a row, all by TKO but in his response, Adesanya believes fighters like he and Silva are on another level of striking. He said Costa is a walking punching bag that just throws heavy and added, “bring that ass over here, Uriah Hall was jabbing in up.”
Adesanya said both men are just “trying to get some shine” because he is in the spotlight.
“When I get my belt in my next fight, they can all line-up and find out how overrated I am.” – Israel Adesanya
He said the criticisms are opinions and he does not have to pay any attention to them but with Whittaker having to have emergency surgery the day of UFC 234, some sort of title fight should be looming. Adesanya will likely be fighting someone for a belt come the summer time.
What did you think of Adesanya’s fight at UFC 234?
