UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya doesn’t expect to ever run it back with Brazilian knockout artist Paulo Costa.
‘Stylebender’ eased by Costa in the UFC 253 main event last month. The 185lb king needed just two rounds to pick up the win and defend his title for the second time. Since the fight, Costa has been angrily pursuing a rematch but Adesanya doubts it will ever come to fruition and advised his rival to let it go.
“I don’t think I ever see him again to be honest,” Adesanya told MMA Fighting. “I think this is going to be like Conor McGregor and Jose Aldo. He has to let it go. I’ve done it to him. I’ve embarrassed him. He just has to accept it and realize ‘my mouth wrote checks my ass couldn’t cash and Israel likes to collect.’ It happened and let it go. So that’s my advice to him cause that’s what I did.”
Adesanya went on to talk about his approach to suffering losses during his career, namely his KO defeat to Alex Pereira. He advised Costa to adopt a similar mindset if he wants to keep evolving as a fighter.
“Even [if] I knock him [Pereira] out if he comes to the UFC, it’s never going to erase what happened,” Adesanya said. “It already happened. You just have to accept it and move on, which is the advice I give Paulo. You’re never going to get this one back. If by some crazy miracle or work ethic he does come up in the rankings again, he can’t unf*ck himself, you know what I mean?
“I never really looked to go chase any losses that I’ve had back,” Adesanya explained. “I’ve gotten a few back in the past but that’s just cause they came up and I was like right, this is my chance at redemption but I’m fine with where I’m at. So he has to be all right with where he’s at and move on.”
Do you think we will ever see Israel Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa II?