“I broke him mentally” - Israel Adesanya doesn’t see Paulo Costa regaining confidence after devastating UFC 253 loss

Israel Adesanya has suggested that Paulo Costa won’t regain the confidence he had prior to losing to Adesanya in their middleweight title matchup at UFC 253.

In a breakdown video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Israel Adesanya gave props to both Costa and Vettori for their respective fighting skills. ‘The Last Stylebender’ then focused on Costa, saying:

“To be honest though, I feel like I broke this guy. I feel like I broke him mentally. I feel like it’s just, his head is not the same. I like to sip my own Kool-Aid, but I don’t get drunk off it. Unfortunately, Costa likes to get drunk off his own Kool-Aid. I noticed this during Fight Island. Everyone around him was kissing his a**.”

Adesanya further explained why he feels Costa won't regain his confidence. He claims the Brazilian's aura of invincibility is gone.

“Yeah, so I feel like I broke this guy. I feel like he’s broke. He’s broke mentally because that air of invincibility that he had [is] gone. He believed his own hype off the f**king [Yoel] Romero fight and thought, you know, ‘I’m invincible. I walked on this guy... I beat him badly after he was threatening me, making skits about me, making pictures of me being beheaded… Saying he’s going to kill me… Like, just all the dumb, stupid sh** that he did before that fight. I just remember that the story for that fight was take the bite out of the bully. Like, I had to become what I hated and become the bully myself. And I did, oh, I did. He’s broken. I just feel like all that air of invincibility just crumbled, and now he has to build himself back up. So, for me, it’s hard to see him regain that confidence he had, that bravado he had where he thought like no one could ever knock me out.”

You can watch Israel Adesanya break down the Costa-Vettori matchup in the video below:

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Israel Adesanya faces an old foe; Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori look to work their way back to a title shot

Reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is expected to face former champion Robert Whittaker in a rematch next. Adesanya bested Whittaker via second-round KO at UFC 243 in October 2019. Their rematch is likely to take place at UFC 271 on February 12, 2022.

Meanwhile, Paulo Costa is set to fight Marvin Vettori next. Costa's last fight was a defeat to Israel Adesanya. Coincidentally, Vettori's last fight was a loss to 'The Last Stylebender' as well.

Presently, both fighters are looking to return to the win column and earn another shot at the UFC middleweight title. Their fight will take place at UFC Fight Night: Costa vs. Vettori on October 23, 2021.