Paulo Costa Rips Into Yoel Romero Ahead Of UFC 241 Match-Up
Earlier today, news came that the oft-discussed Yoel Romero vs. Paulo Costa match-up had been verbally agreed upon for August’s UFC 241. It’s apparently high time Costa rips into Romero heading into the anticipated fight.
The bout had been discussed for three previous cards. The first was last November’s UFC 230. Romero missed that date due to needing more time to heal up from previous injuries. The bout was then discussed for January’s UFC on ESPN+ 1 but again fell through. Finally, the fight was slated to headline April 27’s UFC Ft. Lauderdale. But when Costa needed time to sort out a confusing USADA issue from 2017, it fell by the wayside an incredible third straight time.
Costa Rips Romero
Costa has since cleared up that issue, accepting a retroactive six-month suspension from USADA for using a banned IV back at UFC 217. He’s eligible to fight and is headed for his clash with the “Soldier of God.” And when it happens, Costa is taking it personally. He told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani that Romero was spreading gossip he had failed a USADA drug test:
“Yoel Romero needs to understand this is personal,” Costa told ESPN. “He’s a liar. He’s a Soldier of God? How can he call himself a Soldier of God if he is spreading gossip? He’s a soldier of devil for spreading lies. And he’s going to pay. Now is the time for him to pay.”
Romero’s Team Responds
Indeed, Romero did claim that despite walking the comments back immediately afterward. But Romero’s manager Abe Kawa responded that their side had accepted the fight four times and the only hold-up was supposedly Costa’s USADA issue. They claimed they were only hoping the fight finally happens:
“We’ve been offered this fight four times now. We’ve now accepted it four times. We couldn’t fight all three previous times because Costa was suspended. We’re hoping there are no suspensions this time and we can actually fight.
“Yoel is a man on a mission. He wants to win that belt. He is rejuvenated, and feels better than ever.”
Whether that’s the full truth or not is debatable. Costa may have been dealing with the confusing issue for many months. Yet Romero did seem to cite facial injuries from last June’s UFC 225 as a reason he couldn’t face Costa at UFC 230.
Either way, it appears they’re finally set to fight now. The MMA world will await the date with measured anticipation, of course. Until it happens, expect some vitriol to be spewed from both sides.
