One of the more anticipated fights of 2020 is the fight between Israel Adesanya (19-0) and Paulo Costa (13-0). The two undefeated fighters will fight for the middleweight crown at UFC 253.
The one thing that is very clear it’s that these two do not like each other. In fact, you could say the two top UFC fighters hate each other. Their hatred for each other was on full display in a recent interview on SportsCenter.
UFC 253 is Getting a War
“He’s (Adesanya) not a respectable guy,” Costa said. “The sport doesn’t need his attitude to sell a good fight. He says he’s not boring, look at his last fight…If you fight someone like Romero or me, you need to come to fight. He just stood there… I will bring the fight, I will bring the war,” Costa yelled at Adesanya.
Adesanya responded quickly showing off his 2019 UFC Fight of the Year trophy saying, “That’s just one, I’ve got many.” Adesanya yelled back at Costa saying, “When someone brings the fight, I f–cking fight. You say you’re going to bring the fight, bring that s–t! I’ll show you what I’m about.”
This was just one of the many exchanges throughout the full eleven minute video that you can view above. This fight is truly a matchup between the two best in the UFC‘s middleweight division. We have not seen a title fight between two undefeated fighters since UFC 98 back in 2009.
Technically we had DC/Jones, but Jones had that one DQ loss on his record. These two are undefeated and two of the baddest men on the planet. Costa is right about one thing, all he knows how to do is bring war to his opponents.
Adesanya might be the best technical striker in the UFC and he will have to lean on his countering skills in this one. Costa is going to give him no room to operate so Izzy is going to have to be elusive and catch him coming in. I can’t wait for this fight and we have just over a month to wait.