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A couple of weeks ago, it was revealed that Paulo Costa had suffered an injury and the looming rehabilitation would not allow him ample time to prepare for a title fight against current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya.
It was news that turned everyone’s smiles upside down, as fight fans were salivating at the thought of finally seeing “The Eraser” and “The Last Stylebender” go at it given their obvious disdain toward one another.
Adesanya, however, isn’t buying Costa’s injury claims, saying he has suspicions as to what is really going on. And yes, as you may have guessed buy now, it has to do with United States Anti Doping Agency (USADA).
“I am going to use the word allegedly because I have my legal team here. But I do have my own suspicions,” said Israel during an interview on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show. “I mean you have seen UFC move shows from New York to L.A. before, they have kept information. With how the USADA policy is, you can’t disclose anything until after the trial or whatever.”
Nate Diaz laughs at USADA’s policies.
In Costa’s defense, he has yet to fail a drug test administered by USADA. While Paulo will not be next for Adesanya, it’s a fight the champ still wants, as he is focused on taking out every single fighter the people hail as the one to hand him his first loss.
“But I want to get that one out of the way because everyone thinks he’s dangerous. I think he is a dangerous guy and one that would beat a lot of big names in the sport, and already has,” said Adesanya.
“He beat Yoel in his last fight, he scraped. I didn’t think it was as dominant as it should have been. But I just want to beat everyone in this division that is supposed to be the bad motherfucker.”
As for who will likely step in to fill the void should Costa not return in time, the nod will probably go to former two-time title contender, Yoel Romero, who was defeated by “the Eraser” at UFC 241. And just to be clear, “The Last Stylebender” is calling out “Soldier of God” since everyone else is afraid to do so.
“I’m calling him out, no one has ever called him out, so I might be the first. I here (Darren) Till saying he doesn’t want to fight him. I’m like, ‘why?’ I was very surprised to hear him say that. I don’t know if it’s a tactic or what. But he did say he would fight any man and go up to Heavyweight and fight any man there. But no Yoel? Alright, do you, boo-boo.”
To hear Till tell the tale, his resistance is more out of fandom and respect, and not real fear, and it’s a fight he would take if presented to him now that he’s fighting at 185 pounds.