Paulo Costa: Israel Adesanya Won’t Survive Yoel Romero

UFC middleweight contender Paulo Costa is hoping Israel Adesanya waits for him instead of fighting someone else.

Adesanya was slated to defend his middleweight title against Costa. However, “The Eraser” is on the sidelines after undergoing bicep surgery. As a result, Yoel Romero has emerged as a potential title challenger for Adesanya.

Costa — who has long spoken of Adesanya’s flaws — believes there would be only one winner if “The Last Stylebender” faced powerful middleweights such as himself and Romero:

“What I really think, a lot of people may not agree, but I see a lot of holes, weaknesses in Adesanya. Mostly physical, he should be in the low, middle-to-middle category,” Costa told Combate (via BJ Penn). “To fight me, Romero, he’s going to be hit hard. And, I don’t think he has the strength to absorb it. I respect everyone who thinks he is very good. I think he has quality, but does not survive Romero.”

Romero is notably on a two-fight losing streak, the latest of which includes a close unanimous decision defeat to Costa. However, the Brazilian can understand why Romero may get the next shot:

“I think Adesanya should not fight, should wait for me to do this fight, because Romero comes from defeat, not cool,” he added. “On the other hand, there is no one in the division to fight him.”

Should things go as planned, however, Costa hopes to be the one to inflict Adesanya’s first professional defeat. The two have gone back-and-forth on social media for a while and confronted each other from afar at UFC 243 with Adesanya showing Costa the middle finger:

“When he pointed the finger, it was a huge lack of respect,” Costa explained. “I wanted to go get satisfaction, charge him, hit him inside, give a lot of f*cking, but there was no way. There were a lot of people, everyone in front of me before this happened, thought something like this would happen.

“I would have to jump, pass through a lot of security, I had no way. I would like to go up there not only for being there. … Anyone who shows the finger to me, I will have the same reaction, charge the person.”

What do you make of Costa’s comments?