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Paulo Costa has cleared the air on why he looks leaner since losing to Israel Adesanya. Costa has asserted that he’s never skinny, besides also revealing what has brought about a visible difference in his weight.
Taking to his official Twitter account, Paulo Costa responded to MMA journalist Chisanga Malata after the latter had tweeted about Costa looking much leaner than he was at UFC 253. Costa indicated that he was dealing with injury issues around the time of his UFC 253 fight against Israel Adesanya, which caused him to gain weight and look heavier.
Additionally, Costa highlighted that he currently has no injuries and has been training well, which is why he appears to be in much better shape. Fans can check out Paulo Costa’s tweet below:
“Never skinny. In that moment i came from 2 surgeries so i got a lot extra weight. Now im coming from no injuries and training well, that’s why i look in better shape so.”
Paulo Costa entered UFC 253 (September 27th, 2020) as an undefeated fighter with a 13-0 professional MMA record. The Eraser competed in the headlining fight of UFC 253, challenging Israel Adesanya for the latter’s UFC middleweight title.
Despite trying his best to pressure Israel Adesanya and knock the latter out, Paulo Costa couldn’t connect cleanly with the elusive Adesanya. The UFC middleweight champion’s footwork and speed proved to be the difference, as he ended up defeating Costa via second-round TKO.
In the aftermath of his UFC 253 loss against Israel Adesanya, which was the first loss for Paulo Costa in his professional MMA career, many in the MMA world criticized Costa for coming in too heavy for his fight.
The belief is that he did a great job making the 185-pound weight limit, as he was cutting a significant amount of weight to do the same. And while this gave Paulo Costa a size advantage against Israel Adesanya, Costa was much slower than his foe.
Resultantly, Paulo Costa wound up giving up a considerable speed advantage in the fight. This concession allowed Israel Adesanya to evade, out-strike, and eventually knock Costa out.
Paulo Costa faces another fleet-footed striking specialist in his next fight
As per Paulo Costa’s insinuation in his social media post, he doesn’t plan on getting ‘skinny’ to make up for any purported speed disadvantage in his fights. Whether or not this affects him in a future battle against his archrival, the speedy striking-specialist Israel Adesanya, remains to be seen.
Nevertheless, to work his way back to a fight against Adesanya, Paulo Costa would first have to get through another fleet-footed striking specialist, Robert Whittaker. Costa is reportedly scheduled to face former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker at UFC Fight Night 190 on April 17th, 2021.
