Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
When will this fight happen?
Israel Adesanya refused to face Paulo Costa at UFC 251 or UFC 252, according to Costa’s manager Wallid Ismail.
Ismail said the UFC offered Adesanya two dates to fight Costa and the UFC middleweight champion refused both times. Adesanya and Costa have been jawing at each other ever since Costa beat Yoel Romero at UFC 241.
“UFC offered Adesanya to fight on July 11 and August 15 and Adesanya declined both times,” Ismail told BJPENN.com. “His coach claims Adesanya hasn’t gotten an offer which is not true. We have proof.”
The fight at UFC 252 would have supposedly served as a co-headliner underneath the trilogy fight between Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier.
Ismail told the publication that two new dates are being explored. The first would be a September date should Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje fall through. More likely, however, Adesanya vs. Costa will headline an event in October.
City Kickboxing Head Coach Eugene Bareman also spoke about a target date, saying Adesanya wants it on September.
“We’re good to go. We’re just waiting on them. September. September’s good for us,” Adesanya’s coach told Submission Radio. “If the UFC want to put the fight on, then we want it. Yeah, let’s push for September. It would give us enough time to get ready. A lot of the other noise to do with coronavirus and stuff would have calmed down. Let’s do it in September. Send the contract over and we’ll get it done.”