Israel Adesanya is Ready for Overblown Balloon Animal Costa

Israel Adesanya is ready to claim his next scalp… He wants to destroy Paulo Costa

‘The Last Stylebender is now the undisputed middleweight champion of the world. He managed to knock out Robert Whittaker inside two rounds of their contest in Melbourne, Australia. Now he’s ready to take on his first challenger, Paulo Costa. Already, this promises to be a grudge match.

Shockingly, there hasn’t been a successful title defence at middleweight since Michael Bisping beat Dan Henderson. That was back in 2016. Then along came Georges St. Piere to mess up everything. After he vacated the title, Whittaker won the interim edition against Yoel Romero. He then fought Romero in a rematch, however, it was a non-title bout.

Adesanya will be hoping for better luck during his title reign. He’s already on track to be one of the biggest stars in the organization. Only time will tell whether or not that comes to pass. But he’s doing and saying all of the right things.

Title Fight

A fight against Jon Jones appears unlikely at this point. However, he appears committed to defending his title first. That’s something that all fight fans can respect. The unbeaten Costa has bludgeoned his way to the front of the line, most recently beating the savage Romero. Although many fans believed the Cuban had done enough to win, ‘The Eraser’ is the man in possession of the number one contender spot. After the fight, Adesanya gave him the finger.

“It sells the next fight. It sells the next fight a little bit,” explained Adesanya. “But at the same time, he’s a b*tch. And he’s my b*tch and I’m going to make him my b*tch. So that’s why I did what I did.”

Mismatch

Adesanya doesn’t have much good to say about Costa’s style either. The Brazilian is pure muscle and hits like a truck. He’s also been accused of using PEDs. ‘The Last Stylebender’ claims not to care either way. He thinks Costa is basic and that he can pick him apart with his cerebral shot selection.

“Basic is what my sh*t is built on — foundation,” Adesanya said. “I just know how to work off my basics; he doesn’t. Everyone he fights is a punching bag that’s just waiting there to get hit. I can’t wait till I fight him.”

Timing

The Nigerian-born, New Zealander also has a message for his critics. Many fight fans criticised his lack of finishes. In short, knocking out one of the hardest hitters in the division is a good answer. Adesanya insists that timing is better than raw power. He says that this is why he’s going to beat Costa. The Brazilian just won’t be able to land on him.

“I had the idea — I think it was something that’s been infused through Hollywood — that you gotta be this John Rambo motherf**ker to be a fighter and be a tough guy, because that’s what you see in movies, that’s what you grow up watching,” Adesanya said. “Everyone still sees that, and it’s just embedded in them that they think, ‘That’s a bad motherf**ker, that’s the guy.’ It’s like, nah… I don’t need power, everyone has power. I have precision.”

It’s an exciting time in the middleweight division.