Paulo Costa Early Return Could Spoil Israel Adesanya vs. Yoel Romero
The UFC middleweight title picture is very confusing at this point in time.
Initially, newly-crowned champion Israel Adesanya was expected to make his first title defense against Paulo Costa. However, an unfortunate injury to the Brazilian forced those plans to be put on hold. As a result, a subtle beef between Adesanya and multiple-time title challenger Yoel Romero began to brew.
Now, the expectation is that an Adesanya vs. Romero matchup could be on the horizon for UFC 248 in March. However, those plans could be in doubt after a recent update from UFC president Dana White. While Costa was initially expected to be out-of-action until the beginning of the second quarter of 2020, now, the Brazilian is hard at work to get back even earlier. Potentially early enough to face Adesanya after all.
White provided the following update during a recent interview with MMA Junkie.
“The only question is, I don’t know if you’ve seen on social media, but if you look at Costa, he looks like he’s ready to go again, and he’s pushing hard saying, ‘I could take this fight,’” White said
“If you look at him online, he looks great and everything else, but we want to hear it from a doctor. We want a doctor to tell us that this guy is going to be OK to fight sooner. Why rush it?”
Costa initially earned his shot by topping Yoel Romero at UFC 241 this past summer. He earned the nod in a very close decision over the Cuban after three rounds of fighting. Costa and Adesanya have developed a very personal rivalry with one another, so it’s likely they’ll settle their differences inside the Octagon one way or another down the road.
What do you think about Costa potentially swooping back in to spoil a potential Adesanya vs. Romero matchup?
