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With the most important victory of his career, Paulo Costa has outstripped the rest of the UFC middleweight division and is now positioning himself as a full candidate.
It took Costa 15 minutes to prove that he was the best man against Yoel Romero, but "Borrachinha" triumphed on the 241 dashboards of UC on Saturday, beating twice in the competition. who had made five rounds with UFC champion Robert Whittaker. The performance was a massive statement for Costa, 28, who is 5-0 in the UFC and 13-0.
He now plans to wait for the winner of the fight for the unification of the UFC 243 middleweight championship between Whittaker and the acting champion Israel Adesanya. Costa was trusted with confidence as the best in his division and, after defeating Romero, he was even more assured of being able to beat both men at the top, including Adesanya.
"I think the two are turning to me, scared," Costa told the press on Saturday after the fight. "Because both guys now know that they have a very, very hard looking for them. I think Whittaker will beat Adesanya, but I'm defeating Romero.
"For me, Romero won against Robert Whittaker, but if Adesanya wins, he takes the belt, man, I can kill him. He is very thin, he has no chance against me.
Adesanya was particularly upset that Costa was a potential opponent last year. The match never took place, Adesanya defeating Derek Brunson, Anderson Silva and finally Kelvin Gastelum to win an interim title, but Costa has not forgotten what Adesanya said.
"Because Adesanya also talks about me to shit," Costa said. "After my last fight against Uriah Hall in 2018, he asked me to fight him and he said," I can beat that, he says I have dinosaur arms. "It's so personal."
Aware of Costa's reply, Adesanya doubled her insult on Twitter:
In the fight against Romero, Costa played the third round for the first time in his career, which largely helped answer questions about whether he was more than a fast starter and how he could perform. in a five-round championship fight. "Borrachinha" does not think anyone should be surprised by his success against Romero, since he's coaching for five rounds of "high intensity".
It was because of this intense struggle that Costa said he would not be hiring as a replacement for UFC 243 in October if Whittaker or Adesanya were forced to withdraw.
"Absolutely not. … no backup, "said Costa. "It was raining [too] difficult to be a backup. I'm training so hard. I have to confirm the fight to make my camp. My camp is wild, it's wild jungle. Listen, I forgot to say that in the Octagon, I broke my ribs this year. I broke two ribs in this last camp. I broke my biceps, cleared my leg. It's crazy. I'm taking nine fighters to spar with me. Our guys are returning home with injuries due to a wild training camp.
"I can not be a substitute, I have to confirm this fight to make my camp."
When the time comes, Costa thinks he has the skills to defeat anyone who opposes the gold medal in the championship. And that it will be considerably easier compared to what he had to suffer against Romero.
"[Adesanya and Whittaker] are no more difficult than Yoel, "said Costa. "So, because I know that, Israel [hasn’t proven he’s tough] again. Whittaker is a true champion, but he is no stronger than Yoel. Because of that, I say that I can beat both.
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