Paulo Costa is asking fans to overlook his past failures.
The UFC middleweight division is stacked with talented fighters who are all looking for a shot at the title. Unfortunately for all of these men, the champion of this division is an amazing and dominant champion. Israel Adesanya has been the champion at 185 pounds since 2019 and has defended his belt five times. One of these times was against Paulo Costa.
Costa wants another crack at Adesanya. The first time Costa lost by second-round TKO, but he feels he can do better now. Costa knows he was not at his best the first time he faced the champion and wants fans to put that performance out of their minds.
“The people had a lot of expectation about me when I fought Israel, and I understand completely; I had very good hype, was undefeated. Man, I need to say for everyone who was mad with me, I was mad with myself as well,” Costa said on The MMA Hour. “I lost a very good opportunity to fight the skinny boy. I had worry the night before the fight. I should not fight that day because I (did not) have a good condition to fight. I didn’t sleep, cramp throughout my body… but I’m a persistent guy. It was not a good idea to fight a champ that day… My reflex was not good. I drink a bottle of wine, man.”
Paulo Costa Belives That He Is Performing Back At The Level He Should Be
Since the loss to Adesanya, Costa has lost one to Marvin Vettori at light heavyweight and won his most recent fight against Luke Rockhold. Costa is adamant that he is a changed man and in the best shape of his life. He is calling for fights and wants to work his way back to a title fight.
“But guys, forget this, I’m back. I will never do the same mistakes that I did in the past. I am a monster, I’m wild, I love to train, I feel a lot of energy when I came to fight, and man, it will be very hard for Adesanya or anyone else to beat me in that cage,” he said. “We had issues when I fought Marvin (Vettori); I was fat as f*ck. But lean, in good shape, with a good camp, I think I am unstoppable.”
Costa has been rising in popularity recently due to his fun social media presence. He has also been trash-talking with some other big named athletes. He recently had a run it with Khamzat Chimaev at the UFC Performance Institute and has even sent a fight offer to Jake Paul.
Realistically, since Costa is sitting in the number six spot in the rankings, he will most likely have to take one or two more bouts before working his way back up to Adesanya.
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