Paulo Costa thinks Yoel Romero is stalling their fight.
Initially the pair were announced to fight at UFC 230. That will be the UFC’s November card from Madison Square Garden. It would’ve been another massive fight on a card that’s already shaping up nicely.
Unfortunately “The Soldier Of God” was forced to pull out. He has facial injuries that have yet to recover from his last fight with Robert Whittaker. The fight will likely be rescheduled for early 2019.
Costa tells Combate that he believes the Cuban is stalling for more training time. The young Brazilian believes his Cuban counterpart knows he’s going to have his hands full. With that being said, he thinks Romero is milking his injury for more training time:
“I think he’s stalling, he wants more time to train,” Costa said. “That’s the truth. I don’t doubt he could be hurt, but I think he’s taking advantage of it and asking for more time to train.
“When the UFC sent him the contract, he knew the fight would be in November, otherwise they wouldn’t send it. I signed it, he didn’t. He said his doctor told him he needed more time to heal, but he hurt himself when he fought Whittaker, how much time would he need?
“He knows it’s going to be a tough fight, everyone in the weight class knows how it is when you fight me. It’s going be a really aggressive fight, with devastating punches and kicks.
“They don’t want to risk their health, especially a 41-year-old man who’s probably thinking about retiring. If he hurt his face, he’ll be afraid of getting hit there. I think he wasn’t sparring that hard before, so now it’s going to be even less harder. Unfortunately, that fight won’t be good for him.”
Discussion: What do you make of Costa’s comments? Sound off in the comments below!
