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Coach Eric Albarracin believes Paulo Costa vs. Israel Adesanya will be the greatest middleweight title fight in UFC history.
Paulo Costa’s coach Eric Albarracin can’t wait for ‘Borrachinha’ to get his hands on Israel Adesanya.
Costa was expected to challenge ‘The Last Stylebender’ for the UFC middleweight title earlier this year but the Brazilian was forced out of the matchup due to a bicep injury that required surgery.
Costa is still sidelined but the top middleweight contender can’t wait to get into the Octagon to expose Adesanya.
Coach Albarracin believes Adesanya vs. Costa will be the greatest middleweight title fight in UFC history and predicts yet another stoppage win for Borrachinha.
“Paulo Costa vs Adesanya will be the greatest middleweight title fight in history. These two hate each other, they are at each other’s throats,” Albarracin told BJPenn.com in a recent interview. “When we went to UFC 243, Adesanya called him Ricky Martin, and he does look like Ricky Martin but he hits like Mike Tyson. Adesanya will not step out of the cage there, Costa will erase him.”
Albarracin predicts Costa will move up to light heavyweight and become a two-division UFC champion after he beats Adesanya to capture the middleweight title.
“Paulo does cut a lot of weight. I could see him going up to 205, he’s going to be my next champ-champ,” he said.
Albarracin also trains Chan Sung Jung and would love to see Korean Zombie challenge Alexander Volkanovski for the featherweight title on the same card as Adesanya vs. Costa.
“Have the main event be Costa-Adesanya and co-main of Volkanovski-Zombie because we will take that whole team out at once,” Albarracin said.
Costa is expected to return to the UFC later this year, although a specific timeline hasn’t been announced.