Luke Rockhold is clearly not a fan of Paulo Costa.
Costa made headlines recently when he claimed he was kind of drunk or hungover during his middleweight title defeat to Israel Adesanya at UFC 253 in September.
“I was kind of drunk (when) I fought, maybe, on (sic) hangover,” Costa said. “I couldn’t sleep because of the (leg) cramps. Keep in mind that the fight happens at 9 a.m. (local time), we have to wake up at 5 (a.m.) to get ready, stretch, wrap the hands. The UFC told us to wake up at 5 in the morning to go to the arena to fight. I hadn’t slept until 2:30 (a.m).“
“It was my mistake and I don’t blame anyone else, it was something I chose (to do), but, in order to try to sleep, because I had to sleep since I was awake for twenty-four hours, I had wine, too much wine, a bottle (of wine) to try to black out. I had a glass and didn’t work. Two glasses, it didn’t work. Half bottle, didn’t work. I had it all.”
Those comments naturally drew ridicule from many in the combat sports world and Rockhold — who is targeting a comeback in the division soon — is the latest to comment on the excuse.
“The Paulo Costa guy’s just annoying. Stupid,” Rockhold told Submission Radio. “Talking about getting drunk off wine is just the dumbest thing I’ve ever fucking heard.
“Just shut up. Shut up and stop making excuses like that. That’s just a farfetched… pretty dumb. Pretty f*cken dumb.”
As for Costa’s old foe Adesanaya and his chances against Rockhold’s last opponent in Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259 this weekend, the former middleweight champion certainly likes them.
“I like Israel in the fight,” Rockhold added. “You never know, Jan has a very herky jerky style. I rushed the fight. I thought he was more visible. He wasn’t as clean and as confident as I thought he would be. I just over put myself into a takedown situation, which I don’t normally do. I thought I could just finish the fight pretty easily, and I wasn’t used to his size and strength and overcommitted to a takedown and just juiced my arms up.
“And by the time I got out of the clinch I was just like, I was watered down, had all the blood in my arms and I couldn’t get off like I should. If I was more patient and just waited for my shots, my opportunities, I think it would be a much different fight. And I see Israel has just this confidence and I think he’s peaking right now. I think he’ll be more patient. I think he’ll see Jan, and I think he’ll find his mark more often than not.”
What do you make of Rockhold’s comments?