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“People are just mad ‘why are you doing that, you’re not a man’ cause they feel inadequate. Questioning their own sexuality,” Adesanya said.
UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya believes “homophobia” was the reason his post-fight celebration against Paulo Costa at UFC 253 was criticised.
The overreaction to Adesanya’s actions comes from what he did after his stoppage win against Costa at UFC 253 last month. After referee Jason Herzog stopped the fight in the second round, Adesanya appeared to do a humping motion behind Costa whilst being pushed off him.
Talking to MMA Fighting, Adesanya explained he couldn’t care less what people thought of his actions. “The Last Stylebender” also compared it to taunting in video games such as “Call of Duty”.
“I couldn’t give a f—k what they think to be honest,” Adesanya said. “I didn’t even think about it. I didn’t even plan it. It was just justified. Like you know when you’re on ‘Call of Duty’ and you smoke someone with a head shot and then you go over them and then press circle, down, up, down, up, kind of tea bag them. That’s kind of what I did.
“What it is, is homophobia. People are just mad ‘why are you doing that, you’re not a man’ cause they feel inadequate. Questioning their own sexuality.”
Adesanya and Costa both exchanged a lot of back and forth in the months leading up to their fight. Given that, Adesanya can’t comprehend those who criticised his extensive celebrations in the Octagon after finishing Costa.
“Dude said so much shit to me leading up to the fight, insulted me in so many different ways,” Adesanya said. “That was pretty much a second after the fight was over and you expect me to be gracious? Are you f—king kidding me?
“I was gracious when I walked up to him and said ‘are you going to shake my hand?’ and he shook my hand and I said good fight, thank you. Thank you for the game. I was gracious when I secretly DM’d him and checked ‘how’s your leg?’ I just wanted to check on him.”