Adesanya slams Costa for pulling out of fight, says Cannonier is being overlooked
“Unfortunately for him [Costa], he might miss his shot forever if he doesn’t climb his way back up the ranks.”
As one of the most active fighters on the UFC roster, newly-crowned middleweight champion Israel Adesanya wants to get back into action as soon as possible.
Adesanya was initially expected to defend his newly-acquired title against surging middleweight contender Paulo Costa in the new year, but the Brazilian was forced out of the proposed match-up due to injury. ‘Borrachinha’ is set to undergo bicep surgery later this year and will be sidelined until April — and Adesanya isn’t willing to wait.
Speaking to MMA Fighting in a recent interview, ‘The Last Stylebender’ blasted Costa for pulling out of the fight and warned the 28-year-old he may never get the chance to fight for the title again.
“I guess he wasn’t ready to fight,” Adesanya said. “If he wanted to fight, he would have made sure to do the right things to be in shape already to fight. I don’t pull out. My pullout game is weak.
“Unfortunately for him, he might miss his shot forever if he doesn’t climb his way back up the ranks. That’s why I said I want to fight homeboy Paulo Costa because I want to get him and I want to beat him before USADA gets him. I like the challenge of that.”
Although Adesanya has expressed interest in a replacement fight against Yoel Romero, the Nigerian-born talent also has top-five ranked middleweight Jared Cannonier on his radar, hailing the 35-year-old ‘the second most dangerous guy in the division’.
“100 percent I’m looking at him,” Adesanya said about Cannonier. “He’s a beast in the division. He’s the dark horse in the division. He’s the guy everyone is sleeping on but you can’t sleep on him because you’ll get put to sleep.
“I think he’s the guy, the second most dangerous guy in the division behind myself. I look forward to fighting him after his next fight.”
Switching his attention back to Costa — and then back again to Cannonier — Adesanya said he would love nothing more than to embarrass Borrachinha on the mat.
“I was looking forward to my next fight, because that would have sold itself,” Adesanya explained about a potential showdown with Costa. “Because he would try to trash talk me in his broken English, and I would embarrass him on the mic, and then eventually I’d embarrass him on the mat. So that was already set in stone that it was going to be glorious.
“But a guy like Cannonier, I don’t have to. The fight sells itself because of the skill set, and just people want to watch me. Something about me that people just want to watch me get my ass kicked maybe. So they’ll be tuning in either way.”
Adesanya didn’t give a timeline for his return, but the 30-year-old is expected to defend his middleweight title in February or March of next year.