Paulo Costa said his leg was ‘totally impaired’ for the Adesanya fight.
Paulo Costa fought Israel Adesanya with an injured leg and should have postponed the fight indefinitely, the Brazilian knockout artist revealed in a recent YouTube upload.
Costa was outclassed — and finished — by Adesanya but says his leg was ‘totally impaired’ and that he couldn’t get any sleep prior the fight.
“Maybe I could have used more in the Adesanya fight, but many things happened before that fight,” Costa said (h/t Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting). “I don’t like to talk because it might sound as excuse, but I had no sleep, my leg was totally impaired, and I shouldn’t have fought, I should have postponed it for the next weekend or more.”
Despite being picked apart in the 1st round and knocked out in the 2nd, ‘Borrachinha’ still isn’t convinced Adesanya is the real deal and is adamant a rematch will play out differently.
“He’s an agile fighter, fast, but doesn’t convince me. He didn’t convince me,” Costa said of the reigning UFC middleweight champion. “It’s hard to say, I lost to him and won’t be right. I can say whatever I want and I won’t be right, it will sound salty, but, in reality, he doesn’t convince me. I can fight him 10 times and all 10 times will be different.”
Costa (13-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) is currently #2 in the UFC middleweight rankings and is hoping to return to the octagon for an ‘amazing fight’ with Robert Whittaker.