Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
If I was any good at Adobe After Effects I would have already inserted Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa into Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” video but my (cough) “talents” are limited to bicep curls and shitty headlines, so please use your imagination instead.
Turns out Adesanya, who puts his middleweight title (and undefeated record) on the line on Sept. 26 in Abu Dhabi, will be bringing his “gang” with him for UFC 253 fight week, just in case Costa decides to jump him in a parking garage or hotel corridor.
“If we run into each other, I don’t care if he wants to throw down, we can throw down. I have my whole crew with me. I’ll have the gang gang with me,” Adesanya told Submission Radio. “So, if he wants to try something stupid with white glasses and fucking cringe King whoever, bring it. My gang versus your gang. But I’d rather whoop his ass in the cage. So, he better not try something stupid.”
While a pre-fight altercation is unlikely to take place while the cameras are off, I wouldn’t want to be the UFC employee charged with keeping the peace at the media day staredowns, which have known to dissolve into all-out brawls when fights get personal (like this one).
No doubt extra security will be on hand either way but it’s fights like Adesanya vs. Costa that make me long for the days when UFC events were held in front of a live crowd. I guess we’ll just have to settle for Joe Rogan screaming OHHHHH! every 30 seconds.