Paulo Costa Calls Israel Adesanya ‘Fake Champ’

Paulo Costa hits out at Adesanya once again after Adesanya won an interim middleweight title at UFC 236. He did so by beating Kelvin Gastelum in an epic five-round war.

Many came forward with praise for the the co-main fight. However, Adesanya’s performance did not affect middleweight contender Paulo Costa. He called Adesanya a ‘fake champ’ in an Instagram post,

“Really this is the interim (fake) champ? Hahah. No doubt this weight division has already been better than this (expletive). Enjoy this while you can man, I really hope that you take the real belt one day to meet me. Note: And I’m not the Gastelum.”

Rising star Israel Adesanya won the interim middleweight title after beating top contender Kelvin Gastelum. The judges awarded ‘Stylebender’ a unanimous decision victory. The fight turned out to be one of the best 185-pound fights of the year. The fight earned both stars ‘Fight Of The Night’ award, for which they each took home $50,000.

With his win, Israel Adesanya is now the UFC’s interim middleweight champ. That means he will fight Robert Whittaker in a title unification match later this year.

At the UFC 236 post-fight press conference, UFC President Dana White confirmed a couple matches. That includes the Adesanya-Whittaker title unification match later this fall in Australia.

Earlier Paulo Costa took to Twitter. There he claimed the ‘scrawny’ Adesanya would not last two rounds if they fought after UFC 234.

He said,

“This scrawny clown [Israel Adesanya] would not survive for 2 rounds with me, he does not convince me definitely! My focus is total on Romero in April.”

Paulo Costa and UFC title contender Yoel Romero are to fight on UFC On ESPN 3. However, fight plans broke down quickly. ‘Soldier of God’ Romero claimed that Costa had issues with the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC). His issues are because of a stomach medication he took.

Currently, both Costa and Adesanya are undefeated in MMA. If both keep their winning ways, it’s likely they’ll cross path inside the Octagon down the road.