UFC: Paulo Costa Attributes Israel Adesanya Loss to Leg Cramps and Too Much Wine

Paulo Costa lost to UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya during September's UFC 253. Months [...]

By John Newby

Paulo Costa lost to UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya during September's UFC 253. Months later, he addressed the loss and provided some new details. He said that he had consumed too much wine and that he was impaired when he entered the octagon.

Costa posted a video on his YouTube channel and discussed the loss. He said that Adesanya had "all the merits" for securing a second-round TKO victory. Though Costa then mentioned the amount of alcohol he drank. He also said that he was "sleepy, yawning, and unworried" during the fight and that he was too calm.

"I was kind of drunk [when] I fought, maybe, on a hangover," Costa said in Portuguese, per a translation by MMA Fighting. "I couldn't sleep because of the [leg] cramps. Keep in mind that the fight happens at 9 a.m., we have to wake up at 5 to get ready, stretch, wrap the hands. The UFC told us to wake up at 5 in the morning to go to the arena to fight. I hadn't slept until 2:30.

"It was my mistake and I don't blame anyone else, it was something I chose [to do], but, in order to try to sleep, because I had to sleep since I was awake for 24 hours, I had wine, too much wine, a bottle [of wine] to try to blackout," he continued. "I had a glass and didn't work. Two glasses, it didn't work. Half bottle didn't work. I had it all."

With the loss behind him, Costa will continue to prepare for upcoming matchups. The next bout on his schedule is on April 17 when he faces former champion Robert Whittaker in a five-round main event. The fight will take place in Las Vegas and will create questions about how Costa will rebound from the recent loss. The UFC fighter acknowledged this by promising that the fans will see "an aggressive Borrachinha."

"Aside from the Adesanya fight where many things happened, many factors that didn't allow me to get there well, it will be the same Paulo of always, going for the knockout at all times," Costa explained. "That's who I am. I haven't changed. The thing is, I was 20, 10% of my capacities in the Adesanya fight. We had to change the strategy in the locker room. 'Don't attack him, just wait for the first two rounds,' which was a mistake. Today we know that was a mistake, but talking is easy."

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