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Costa (13-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC), who came up short in his bid to take Adesanya’s (20-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) middleweight title with a second-round TKO defeat in September, told recently revealed in a YouTube video that he drank wine the night before stepping into the octagon to help him sleep.
That decision ultimately backfired, Costa said, because he went into the fight “hungover” and claims he struggled from both the drinking and a lack of proper sleep. Adesanya found that to be quite comical, he told MMA Junkie on Monday.
“That’s just funny,” Adesanya told MMA Junkie. “There’s certain things I’ve done before some of my fights in the past where I learnt my mistakes, but I went in and got my job done. Some people aren’t cut out for that lifestyle.”
For his part, Adesanya says he was somewhat puzzled as to why Costa would come out and make that statement now, after more than five months has passed since the fight.
Costa has pushed hard for a rematch in the aftermath of UFC 253. The Brazilian said he would “kill” Adesanya if they ran it back and is not happy with how the champion has rubbed the result in his face since the heated fight.
Adesanya said that attitude is not going to be beneficial to Costa’s career. “The Eraser” is currently booked to fight Robert Whittaker in the main event of UFC Fight Night on April 17, and a win would put him right back in the conversation for another title shot.
If he wants a second fight to be any different, though, Adesanya said Costa needs to correct himself both mentally and physically.
“I’ll tell you one thing: The best thing to do in his position is accept the fact he lost,” Adesanya said. “He got his ass whooped. The fact that he keeps trying to make all these excuses, it’s only going to do him worse in the long run. He’s making excuses because his ego can’t handle the fact that ‘The Skinny Clown’ whooped his ass badly then double-tapped him twice.
“Just swallow your ego. You got your ass whooped. Get back to the drawing board and reassess your whole game. You can’t just rest on that because if you do – this is my advice – you’ll never get far in life, or in this game.”
That decision ultimately backfired, Costa said, because he went into the fight “hungover” and claims he struggled from both the drinking and a lack of proper sleep. Adesanya found that to be quite comical, he told MMA Junkie on Monday.
“That’s just funny,” Adesanya told MMA Junkie. “There’s certain things I’ve done before some of my fights in the past where I learnt my mistakes, but I went in and got my job done. Some people aren’t cut out for that lifestyle.”
For his part, Adesanya says he was somewhat puzzled as to why Costa would come out and make that statement now, after more than five months has passed since the fight.
Costa has pushed hard for a rematch in the aftermath of UFC 253. The Brazilian said he would “kill” Adesanya if they ran it back and is not happy with how the champion has rubbed the result in his face since the heated fight.
Adesanya said that attitude is not going to be beneficial to Costa’s career. “The Eraser” is currently booked to fight Robert Whittaker in the main event of UFC Fight Night on April 17, and a win would put him right back in the conversation for another title shot.
If he wants a second fight to be any different, though, Adesanya said Costa needs to correct himself both mentally and physically.
“I’ll tell you one thing: The best thing to do in his position is accept the fact he lost,” Adesanya said. “He got his ass whooped. The fact that he keeps trying to make all these excuses, it’s only going to do him worse in the long run. He’s making excuses because his ego can’t handle the fact that ‘The Skinny Clown’ whooped his ass badly then double-tapped him twice.
“Just swallow your ego. You got your ass whooped. Get back to the drawing board and reassess your whole game. You can’t just rest on that because if you do – this is my advice – you’ll never get far in life, or in this game.”
