City Kickboxing head coach Eugene Bareman hasn’t got the memo that Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa will be coaches on “The Ultimate Fighter.”
Many have speculated that the pair would coach on the show when it returns before they clash in a middleweight title fight. It seemed to be more so the case when UFC commentator Joe Rogan claimed that was what was happening.
But as far as Bareman is concerned, nothing of the sort has been discussed as of yet.
“One hundred percent I don’t know anything about it,” Bareman told Submission Radio. “No one has ever proposed it to me, I’ve never had any documentation, I’ve never had any electronic documentation saying anything about it at all. Nah, Joe Rogan knows a lot more than me about it, so I don’t know. So, like, you can take that how you want it, but it probably means that Joe Rogan saw some information that’s not good.”
“Look, nothing’s coming over my desk in regards to Paulo Costa and Israel Adesanya fighting. Nothing about that. And I’ve also had nothing in regard to The Ultimate Fighter. For The Ultimate Fighter to happen, a lot more would have to be done. I would have to… really, the decision for me would be, it would be a business decision. Like, how much would that help Israel make money? And if it added greatly to his backend, to his pay-per-view, than that might be worth giving it a go, even though the stories that we’ve heard from the Ultimate Fighter and stuff, is that it’s quite a hard time, it’s not the most enjoyable time. But if it makes dollars, it makes sense, right? These guys gotta scrap for every dollar they can. That’s what I’d base my decision on if it came down to it. But it’s not. It’s not a discussion point at the moment because it needs to come over my desk, and nothing has come over my desk in regard to that.”
When Will Adesanya vs. Costa Happen?
If that is the case, when will the highly-anticipated title fight actually happen?
For one, the contract needs to be signed on both sides. And when it comes to team Adesanya, a September date is what works best.
“We’re good to go. We’re just waiting on them,” Bareman added. “September. September’s good for us. 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.”
When do you think we’ll see Adesanya vs. Costa? And should they coach on TUF?