"Child support costs a lot" - Israel Adesanya makes fun of Paulo Costa for recent withdrawal and pay complaints

Israel Adesanya, the UFC middleweight champion, still has some animosity towards his former opponent Paulo Costa. They fought each other in September 2020, and Adesanya dominated Costa before knocking him out in the second round.

Israel Adesanya will again defend his middleweight title at UFC 263 against Marvin Vettori this Saturday. Meanwhile, Paulo Costa is without a fight. 'Borrachinha' was supposed to fight Marvin Vettori in April but had to pull out due to injury.

The UFC also scheduled a fight between Costa and Cannonier, but the Brazilian pulled out after making it known that he wasn't happy with the amount of money he was getting. Helen Yee asked Israel Adesanya about this in an interview for her YouTube channel, and Adesanya hilariously said:

"When you're expecting this month, he's due this month. You know, child support costs a lot. So, yeah he needs the money to look after a baby as a single father. So, yeah, he's due this month."

UFC needs to pay me as main fighter to have fighting in main events. Youtubers are showing all disgrace on this business.

— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) June 5, 2021

Costa also had a problem with the UFC announcing his fight against Cannonier when he hadn't even signed the contract. He also said that if he is to take part in a main event fight, he needs to be paid as much as a main event fighter. For him, anything less than $350k was a joke. He also tweeted that he felt bad for his fans who wanted to see him fight again.

Many amazing fans of MMA comes to me in multiple places and saying; “We hope see you fighting soon when you come back?”I really feels bad for them,Unfortunately I wont make bigs show to get same payment as unranked fighters. No make sense.After all I still training and sharp pic.twitter.com/fpOtL3CqyM

— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) June 9, 2021

UFC president Dana White did not take kindly to Costa's tweets and blasted the Brazilian for his demands.

Watch the interview with Adesanya below:

Israel Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa: The battle of the undefeated middleweights

Adesanya vs. Costa was one of the most hyped UFC fights in 2020. Both the fighters were undefeated in their professional careers, and both had explosive knockout power. However, Israel Adesanya had recently come off a controversial win over Yoel Romero, while Costa had a war with Cuban. Fans were expecting a lot from the fight.

However, the Brazilian couldn't deliver as Israel Adesanya took home the belt and all the plaudits after dominating Costa for the entirety of their nine-minute fight.

Fans will flock to see if 'The Last Stylebender' can repeat this feat against Vettori, but no matter what happens, this will be a fight to watch.