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After Paulo Costa suffered a bicep injury, the hulking Brazilian was forced to the sidelines, prompting Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to give Yoel Romero the Middleweight title fight against division champion, Israel Adesanya.
And despite “Borrachinha” claiming he’s ready to roll, company president Dana White wants him to slow down in order to avoid re-aggravating his injury.
According to Costa, Adesanya made a huge mistake by accepting to fight Yoel instead of waiting for him because if “Solider of God” defeats him on at UFC 248 on March 7, “The Last Stylebender” is going back to being a nobody, and will lose out on the bank he would’ve made if he were just a little more patient.
“Poor guy,” Costa said in a chat with MMA Fighting. “Adesanya understands nothing about business, pay-per-view sales, about money. He understands nothing. He has no idea that a fight with me would be bigger than any other, especially against Romero.”
“He might win, but he might lose,” Costa said. “And if he loses, he’s back to being a nobody again. No longer undefeated, no longer the champion, and he misses the opportunity of making millions in a fight against me. Simple.”
A fight against Costa has been building up steam over the past year due to their obvious disdain toward one another, whether or not it’s good enough to be a box office smash, is another story we’ll have to wait for another day. That said, a fight against Romero is just as intriguing, even if it doesn’t have the same animosity attached.
But a Costa vs Adesanya showdown is still feasible as long as Israel takes care of business on March 7. If not, at least we got Romero vs Costa 2.