Paulo Costa is charging full force at UFC champion Israel Adesanya.
On Tuesday, middleweight contender Costa (13-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) took to Twitter to bash Adesanya (18-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC). The Brazilian fighter, who currently is sidelined with a shoulder injury, questioned Adesanya’s willingness to fight him.
“Borrachinha” even went as far as to call Adesanya “afraid,” “skinny and fragile,” and a “(expletive) African.” Check out Costa’s tweet, which has since been deleted, below:
In a follow-up tweet, Costa clarified that he holds nothing against the entire continent of Africa, just Adesanya. That tweet also has since been deleted.
When responding to a commenter, Costa said he wanted to “kill” Adesanya.
Before he stepped to Adesanya, however, Costa called out the media, which he indicated is biased against him. The tweets (which have since been deleted) translated as follows (via Twitter translate):
“Funny to see this 3D issue now,” Costa wrote, in Portuguese. “When I fought with Romero my D’s didn’t tell anyone. They didn’t take into account that I dominated and caused more impact (damage) for most of the 2 rounds. Brazilian and hard!
“I despise commentators and newsboys drooling gringos egg. I will be champion just for me and my fans, don’t feel champions with my belt just for being Brazilian.”
After Adesanya knocked out then-champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 243 in October, Costa appeared to be next in line. But he required surgery on his shoulder and Adesanya’s focus turned to Yoel Romero.
Despite Costa’s claims he’ll be healthy and ready to go in early 2020, UFC president Dana White said the fighter’s physicians are telling him otherwise.
“Well, Costa tore his bicep, so he had to have surgery,” White said in an interview in early November. ” He’s claiming he’ll be back sooner than he will be. That’s not what the doctor is telling me. So that’s not true.”
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