The nearly men of UFC 253 have both issued statements after coming up short in their respective title bouts.
In the main event, Paulo Costa was dominated by the reigning middleweight king, Israel Adesanya before being stopped in round two of their fight. The previously unbeaten Brazilian never really got going in Abu Dhabi last night. He ate countless leg kicks before ultimately succumbing to a beautiful shot upstairs which was expertly followed up by ‘Stylebender’.
‘Borrachinha’ took to social media immediately after his first-ever professional loss and vowed to return stronger than ever.
Retornarei melhor , como sempre!Reyes came up short in his second straight title loss. ‘The Devastator’ previously fell to defeat in controversial fashion when facing Jon Jones at UFC 247. The Mexican-American fought well but ultimately lost a unanimous decision despite many spectators believing he did enough to dethrone the champ. Things where much more clear cut in his second defeat of 2020. Reyes got caught and finished by Jan Blachowicz in the second round of their light-heavyweight title. The title recently vacated by Jones who is set to move to heavyweight is now heading back to Poland with Blachowicz.
The 30-year-old was all class in defeat. Reyes first took to Twitter to react to his loss at UFC 253, he wrote.
“Well fuck! Gotta pull the trigger!!! Nothing left to do but get back up. Congrats to Jan, hell of a performance. #UFC253 #justgettingstarted”
Reyes later posted on Instagram where he again congratulated his opponent and thanked a whole bunch of people, he wrote.
“Not all gods lessons feel good. Thank you to @danawhite @ufc for the opportunity. Thank you to my team and all my supporters I’ll come back stronger and better @mcec_wellness @zignummezcalusa @toyotires @manscaped . I love this game and will continue to grow. Much love and huge congrats to Jan hell of a performance! #ufc253 #rebuild“
Do you think Paulo Costa and Dominick Reyes will bounce back from their defeats?