Israel Adesanya feels he will surprise people with his ability to walk down Paulo Costa.
While it hasn’t been made official, many expect Adesanya to put his UFC middleweight gold on the line against Paulo Costa next. Even Adesanya has said that UFC president Dana White told him that the bout is indeed being planned. Not only is Costa considered to be deserving of a shot at the gold but he’s also developed a personal feud with Adesanya.
Israel Adesanya Says He’ll Walk Down Paulo Costa
Speaking to MMAJunkie.com, Adesanya said that while everyone is talking about Costa’s punching power, he wants to remind folks that he himself knows how to be the hunter.
“I brought back my counter striking game for the Robert Whittaker fight, but also before that, you guys have seen like in the Kelvin Gastelum fight, I showed my toughness. I showed I can be aggressive. I showed I can walk people down,” Adesanya said. “You will be surprised how I’m going to walk this guy down at a certain point in this fight, how he’ll be the one taking a backward step.
“It’s finishing – I’m knocking him out. That’s how I feel. It’s kill or be killed. Don’t get me wrong – like, I don’t think he’s going to catch me, and if he does, he’ll be quite surprised at my durability because a lot of people forget. They say, ‘Oh, he was scared of Romero’s power.’ It’s like, do you know how many (expletives) I’ve fought in this game – not just in MMA, but in kickboxing? Everyone has power, but there’s levels to this power (expletive).”
Adesanya is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Yoel Romero back in March. This was “The Last Stylebender’s” first successful UFC middleweight title defense. He was supposed to take on Costa but “Borrachinha” was still recovering from surgery.
