Israel Adesanya predicts that Paulo Costa would take the first of his two L’s against him should he feel froggy before their middleweight championship showdown at UFC 253,
UFC 253 will take place Saturday, September 26, and the war of words between UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa has already ramped up to a feverish pitch four weeks out from their showdown. Last week, the two had a virtual back-and-forth on ESPN SportsCenter, and Costa recently delivered some extra shots at Adesanya following that exchange. In Adesanya’s first interview since the SportsCenter appearance, he predicted that Costa would be much meeker if the two run into one another prior to bell time (h/t MMA Fighting):
“He’s not going to have enough energy to do sh*t,” Adesanya told Submission Radio. “He’ll be sucked out, dry to the bone. He’ll probably be pretty quiet, I’m assuming. Or he’ll say something and then shut up.”
Adesanya believes that, for Costa’s sake, he had better hope his prediction comes true; because if Costa is more belligerent than Adesanya predicts, things wouldn’t end well for the Brazilian.
“But if we run into each other, I don’t care if he wants to throw down, we can throw down. I have my whole crew with me. I’ll have the gang gang with me.
“You don’t understand. I’ve got the gang with me. So, if he wants to try something stupid with white glasses and f*cking cringe King whoever, bring it. My gang versus your gang.”
Israel Adesanya would go on to make it quite clear that he would much rather settle his differences with Paulo Costa in the Octagon for the entire world to see. It’s a pretty safe bet that the entire MMA community has that same preference.
Do you believe a pre-UFC 253 run-in between Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa could turn violent?
