Paulo Costa got past Yoel Romero at UFC 241, but the Brazilian was not happy with the way the Cuban fought. He believes the 42-year-old used dirty tactics in the fight.
What kind of tactics he used was simple. He says when Romero pointed away he thought it was due to his mouthguard being out. However, it was just a distraction.
“He’s a nice guy, but he’s dirty,” Costa said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show. “In the first round, when I make a hook in his face, he went down then got up very quickly. I say man I will knock him out in the first round because he feel my punch, my first punch, and I started hunting him in the Octagon. And when I close to knock him out, he point on something, anywhere, I don’t know. Like look there Paulo, and I lose concentration, because he point something, maybe his mouth piece fall.
“And I’m not a dirty guy. I try to fight clean and when he point something, like maybe a mouthpiece down. I think man, maybe something happened. So I lose my concentration, and he punched my face. But he missed my face and hit my neck, and I lose my balance, and I fall, so this is one thing.”
That was not the only tactic Paulo Costa didn’t like. Instead, he says when he landed the groin strike that paused the fight, he hit his stomach. There, Romero stopped the fight potentially to catch his breath.
“The second thing, my knee not hit his balls,” Costa said. “My knee hit his stomach, and he said, ‘Oh, you hit my balls,’ and he jumped back, and the referee (said) stop, stop. I don’t know him deep, but he’s a nice guy, he looks like a nice guy, but his kind of fight is not clean.”
Regardless, Paulo Costa got the win over Yoel Romero and now has set himself up for a potential title shot.
Do you agree with Paulo Costa that Yoel Romero uses dirty tactics?
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