Israel Adesanya is certainly not one to ghost someone after they go on a date.
Adesanya faced Paulo Costa at UFC 253 just over a year ago, where he TKOd the Brazilian before channeling his inner Ron Jeremy in the middle of the Octagon. Since then, the two have had words on a few occasions, with Costa most notoriously explaining that he got wine drunk prior to their fight, which hindered his performance.
That being said, it seems that Adesanya has a different theory as to why his foe was underperformed in the bright lights. Speaking in a video on his YouTube channel, the middleweight champ is surrounded by too many “Yes Men,” specifically calling out Costa’s manager and stating that Costa has bought into his own hype.
“I like to sip my own Kool-Aid, but I don’t get drunk off it. Unfortunately, Costa likes to get drunk off his own Kool-Aid. I noticed this during Fight Island. Everyone around him was kissing his ass. Even some of the people that work for the company alluded to the fact that they weren’t really too happy with his management, and how things were being conducted on their side, and how difficult they were to work with.[MOCK BRAZILIAN ACCENT] Because he’s Paulo Costa! He need to have this! He need to have that!
“You know who I’m talking about. Shout out to my man Wallid [Ismail].”
This was not the end of this discussion from Israel Adesanya, who says that he actually tried to offer some friendly advice to Paulo Costa. “The Last Stylebender” went on to explain that he slid into the Brazilian’s DMs a little while ago, where he tried to convince Costa to make some changes with his team.
“I DM’d him after the last fight, saying he should just switch up his team. Because he had too many people blowing smoke up his ass. Either that or take control of his team and realize, like, ‘Oh, I need to be amongst people that are better than me and not be the guy that’s running the show. I don’t feel like that’s the goal.”
Despite how Paulo Costa may feel about him, it seems that Israel Adesanya does not have any hard feelings towards “Borrachina.” Regardless, it seems to hard imagine that Costa will switch up his team, at least at this point in his career.
Check out the full video from Adesanya below:
