UFC color commentator Joe Rogan may have spilled the beans on plans for Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa.
UFC president Dana White recently revealed to reporters as well as fans during a Reddit AMA that The Ultimate Fighter is making a comeback. With Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series a success, many assumed TUF was dead in the water. That isn’t the case and if Rogan is to be believed, then Adesanya and Costa will serve as opposing coaches.
Rogan Says Adesanya & Costa Will Coach In TUF’s Return
During an edition of his JRE Podcast, Rogan made the following claim on the return of The Ultimate Fighter (via BJPenn.com).
“Oh, they’re bringing (TUF) back, by the way. Paulo Costa and Israel Adesanya,” Rogan said.
“Holy sh*t. Tell me you’re not gonna watch that.”
There has been bad blood brewing between Adesanya and Costa. “Borrachinha” has made it clear that he believes Adesanya is cocky and needs to be humbled. “The Last Stylebender” called Costa an “overly inflated balloon animal” following his undisputed UFC middleweight title win over Robert Whittaker back in Oct. 2019.
Costa told Ag Fight that he believes his rivalry with Adesanya surpasses that of Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen (h/t Bloody Elbow).
“My fight with Adesanya will be one of the biggest ones in the past few years,” Costa said. “I can only speak for myself, but I’ll make this pay-per-view be worth every cent. We really don’t like each other. This is, for sure, the biggest rivalry in middleweight history. Much bigger than Anderson vs. Sonnen, because Sonnen talked trash, but Anderson didn’t. Anderson just let Sonnen talk. I can’t not fire back and that generates more animosity.”
While Adesanya vs. Costa hasn’t been made official, it’s expected to be the UFC’s next middleweight title bout. UFC president Dana White has even revealed his plan to book the fight this year. Costa was supposed to receive the title opportunity back in March but he was still recovering from surgery.
