Nigerian born New Zealand-based Kiwi UFC fighter, Israel Adesanya, has predicted that his Brazilian opponent, Paulo Costa, would suffer early defeat when they clash soon.
“This will probably be one of my faster knockouts,” Adesanya said in his reaction to Costa’s boast of beating him like a baby.
Adesanya and Costa are undefeated in the UFC.
The fight against Costa will be Adesanya’s second battle against a Brazilian, having overpowered legendary fighter, Anderson Silva in UFC 234’s main event in Melbourne in February last year.
Paulo Costa had declared in an interview that he would beat Adesanya silly saying: “I will make him cry. I will hit him very badly. And he will cry like a baby. I will slap his face.”
However, the Nigerian, who has the world’s largest fan base in the UFC because of his style of fighting, says the Brazilian would swallow his vomit by the time they meet.
He said: “Costa is overconfident. He is already playing into my hand in the sense that he really thinks he is going to walk through everything I throw.
I don’t like his face, so I am going to punch it a lot. And he is going to run into it with all that confidence, and he is going to fall down. He thinks he is invincible. I know I’m not,” Adesanya told nzherald.c.nz.
In less than two years, Adesanya has crowned the undisputed UFC middleweight champion after trumping Australian star, Robert Whittaker, in Melbourne last October. The Nigerian, who hails from Odogbolu in Ogun State, went on to beat Cuban fighter, Yoel Romero at UFC 248 in March this year to retain his middleweight belt.
Spectators are currently not permitted at UFC events since the outbreak of COVID-19, and there is no possibility of seeing screaming crowds surrounding the Octagon for several months.
A member of Team Adesanya told The Guardian from his base in Auckland that the change in atmosphere notwithstanding, The Last Stylebender would adjust to fighting in front of empty stands.
He also revealed that Adesanya had intensified his training ahead of his clash with the Brazilian Paulo Costa.
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