Israel Adesanya rips former rival Paulo Costa after UFC 302 loss to Sean Strickland: ‘He sucks’
Israel Adesanya figured Sean Strickland would beat Paulo Costa, so he wasn’t surprised to see him get the win at UFC 302.
Adesanya had fought both Strickland and Costa so he was familiar with both, and before the fight on his YouTube channel, he picked Strickland to win a decision.
After the result was read, Israel Adesanya gave his immediate reaction to it and said Paulo Costa sucks off the back foot so he wasn’t surprised that Sean Strickland was able to win a decision due to his pressure.
“Costa sucks off the back foot — he’s not really good off the back foot,” Israel Adesanya said on YouTube. “He’s doing better in this fight. Costa could set him up so bad here, man, because (Strickland is) so worried about that leg. It’s easier said than done, I’ll tell you that, but if you’ve worked on it, you know how to do it…”
“This is what I thought he would do,” Adesanya continued. “He’s walking him down. He’s possibly losing the rounds because he’s not really landing as much but he’s just like, ‘You know what? I’ll break him and eventually, I’ll just storm him.’ [Strickland] hammer fists your face, that’s how he throws his jab, he just throws a hammer fist.”
It was a good performance from Strickland to return to the win column after losing his middleweight title back in January to Dricus Du Plessis.
Israel Adesanya rips Paulo Costa after UFC 302
Following Sean Strickland getting the win at UFC 302, he called to fight for the belt next time out.
It’s expected that Israel Adesanya will face Dricus Du Plessis next and Strickland says he plans to wait out for a title shot.
“I’m going to wait,” Strickland said at the UFC 302 post-fight press conference. “I f*cking paid my f*cking dues. I paid my dues. I got f*cking robbed [at UFC 297] … we all know I got f*cking robbed, at least Dricus doesn’t back up. So I’m going to sit my f*cking ass in the gym and I’m going to be a team player and I’m going to f*cking wait, and I’m going to f*cking wait until they say, ‘Sean, go beat this man’…”
“As long as it takes,” Strickland said when asked how long he’s willing to wait to fight for the title. “I want the gold. When you’re fighting these top-10 motherf*ckers, you’re only one slip and dodge away from being knocked out. I paid my penance, I did what we did, I went and fought Costa. I didn’t want to, I did it. Give me the f*cking title shot. I beat Izzy and that motherf*cker gets a title shot.”
Sean Strickland is currently the No. 1 contender at middleweight and is 29-6 as a pro.
