Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
“This is picture perfect. That’s why I love it. The way he looks, this juiced up monkey, evil Drago looking motherf*cker.”
Israel Adesanya can’t wait to get in the cage against ‘juiced up monkey’ Paulo Costa after his lackluster title defense against ‘statue’ Yoel Romero UFC 248, telling MMA Fighting that ‘Borrachinha’ is the ‘perfect’ stylistic matchup.
“This fight is about me,” Adesanya said. “This next fight is about me, it’s not really about Costa or anyone else. It’s about me proving myself. After that last fight, and dealing with what I had to deal with a statue, I’m looking to actually to go in there and have fun this time.”
“This is picture perfect. That’s why I love it. The way he looks, this juiced up monkey, evil Drago looking motherf*cker. There’s a skinny boy coming in there to whoop his ass, and when he whoops his ass, the sh*t I’m going to do to him afterwards. Oh my god.
“All the sh*t he said leading up to this fight, he’s going to pay for it. He’s going to hear after the fight. Guarantee you.”
Costa is widely considered one of the most dangerous fighters in the middleweight division but Adesanya says the Brazilian is all too predictable and poses no real threat due to his ‘pure orthodox’ style.
“He’s going to be a guy that’s going to press forward but he’s going to feel me from the get go,” Adesanya said. “He’s going to feel me like no one else in the UFC has felt me yet. I think the only guy that maybe pressed me a little bit other than Kelvin [Gastelum] was the Italian [Marvin Vettori]. They’re both juiced monkeys anyway.
“But I look forward to this test. I know he’s a way better version than that and he’s not a southpaw. He’s perfect. He’s orthodox. I’m kind of getting used to fighting southpaws these days. It’s just something I do so I’m looking forward to fighting a pure orthodox fighter that just does the sh*t I’ve seen a f*cking million times.”
Adesanya is also looking forward to the pre-fight banter with Costa and says he will make a fool of the No. 2-ranked contender onstage.
“This is going to be so fun,” the reigning UFC middleweight champ said. “The lead up to the fight, I will bury him on the mic. Oh my god. His broken English. You watch. Pay attention.
“You guys just take notes and pay attention when it comes down to the press conferences, the weigh-ins, staredowns and the fight itself.”
The fight itself hasn’t been announced but Adesanya expects to return to the Octagon in the summer — with or without an audience in attendance.
“I don’t care if there is a crowd. I don’t care if there isn’t a crowd,” he said. “It doesn’t matter to me. ‘Fight Island’ sounds nice. Either there or somewhere in Florida. They’re crazy out there. It would be nice to go back to Dade county.”
Adesanya (19-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) is currently ranked #4 in the UFC men’s pound-for-pound rankings and a win over Costa (13-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) may very well see the middleweight champ crack the top-three.