Israel Adesanya is aware of Paulo Costa’s recent rant on UFC fighter pay.
Adesanya and Costa have no love lost for one another. Back in September 2020, Adesanya put the UFC middleweight championship on the line against Costa. The title fight headlined UFC 253 in Abu Dhabi.
There was a lot of bad blood going into that battle. Costa said he wanted to humble Adesanya as he felt “The Last Stylebender” was cocky. Adesanya insinuated that Costa was on PEDs, calling him an “overly inflated balloon animal.” Ultimately, Adesanya won the bout via second-round TKO, handing Costa his first pro MMA loss.
Costa was expected to try to bounce back against Jared Cannonier this August. That plan blew up in smoke and now Kelvin Gastelum has taken “Borrachinha’s” place. Costa unleashed a rant claiming he never signed a contract to fight Cannonier. He also criticized the UFC over the fact that YouTubers are making more money to have exhibition boxing matches than he is.
Adesanya caught wind of Costa’s blowup and he gave a brief response during an interview with TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter.
“Hey, man, when you need money for child support, any dollar counts.”
UFC President Dana White recently shared his take on Costa’s frustration. The UFC boss said Costa is in no position to demand “crazy money” after his performance against Adesanya last year.
“Guess what? You should’ve started a YouTube channel when you were f*cking 13 years old and built your name and everything else and you could’ve had the fight on [Sunday] night. You’re not a f*cking YouTuber, you’re a fighter and this is what you do for a living. Or you don’t, it’s up to you. And you’re in no position to be talking about crazy money after your last performance.”
As for Adesanya, he’s scheduled to defend the 185-pound gold this Saturday night (June 12). He’ll share the Octagon with Marvin Vettori in the main event of UFC 263. This will be a rematch as Adesanya holds a split decision victory over Vettori.
