Paulo Costa has broken his silence on his Saturday night loss to UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya.
Costa challenged Adesanya for the middleweight strap in the main event of the headline-dominating UFC 253 card on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi. Despite being hailed as Adesanya’s toughest foe to date, he was soundly beaten by the champion, wilting under a volley of punches in the second round.
Speaking on social media on Monday, Costa addressed his loss, and set his sights on a future rematch with Adesanya, promising that the outcome will be different the second time around.
“I’m relaxed because I know what I can do here in this division,” Costa said in English in a video posted to his Instagram story (transcribed by MMA Fighting). “I will still [fight at] 185 to fight him again. I will fight him again sooner and he knows. I will bring back with all my weapons, ok?”
Costa continued, providing further insight into his loss in his native Portuguese.
“Thank you all the haters too for the message,” Costa said (translation via MMA Fighting). “To my friends, and also those who aren’t — but especially my friends and those who cheer for me — don’t worry, I’m fine. I already know what happened, I know what was done wrong, and it won’t happen next time. I won’t keep waiting. Some things happens, I had some problems but I won’t give any excuses, ok? The fight is over, he won, but I guarantee you that the next one will be different. Next time I meet him, if he continues the champion, it will be different.
“There are a lot of people saying things they don’t know about on YouTube,” Costa added. “Don’t worry, I know exactly what happened. We spoke with the whole team, we know what happened. Only we know what happened. Don’t worry, we’re focused here. We’ll bring the belt to Brazil. It will happen, whether you like it or not. Nothing changes. Only the ‘when’ changes. It would be now, but will be soon.”
Prior to UFC 253, Paulo Costa had never been beaten. Highlights of his 13-fight win-streak included wins over Yoel Romero, Uriah Hall, and Johny Hendricks.
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