Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
“He can make any kind of tapes that he wants to make. I’m just going to keep doing me, like I always have.”
Paulo Costa is doing everything in his power to get inside Israel Adesanya’s head ahead of their upcoming middleweight title bout at UFC 253, but it doesn’t appear to be working.
‘Borrachinha’ released a mock video earlier this week where he got teammate Vanderlei ‘Toquinho’ Goncalves to imitate ‘The Last Stylebender’ by running circles around the Octagon and trying to exit the cage.
Adesanya, the reigning middleweight champion, wasn’t bothered by the tape and said the Brazilian is free to make all the silly videos he wants.
“It doesn’t really bother me,” Adesanya said on Thursday during a virtual media day (h/t Steven Marrocco of MMA Fighting). “He can make any kind of tapes that he wants to make. I’m just going to keep doing me, like I always have. I’m just enjoying poking the bear as he wallows away in his own f*cking piece of sh*t. Let him do him, and I’m going to keep doing me. I’m not bothered.”
Adesanya doubled down on his claims that Costa is using steroids, claiming that he will ‘pop’ the undefeated middleweight contender before the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) does.
“I said this before: I’m going to pop [Costa] before [the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency] does, and I plan on doing just that,” Adesanya said, before dismissing his opponent as a sub-par kickboxer.
“Even in kickboxing, he’s not one of the best,” he said of Costa. “I’ve faced way better strikers. That’s not even close. He’s definitely not the best fighter. I think [Anderson] Silva is a better striker than him, [Robert] Whittaker is a different striker than him, but can be better.
“Yeah, he’s not the best striker I’ve fought, but he’s dangerous, though. That’s one thing you have to remember. But he has to remember, so am I.”
UFC 253: Adesanya vs. Costa will take place later this month, Sept. 27 at Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.