‘Just swallow your ego’ – Israel Adesanya’s piece of advice for Paulo Costa after the latter’s claims of fighting with a hangover at UFC 253

Paulo Costa was knocked out in the second round by Israel Adesanya at UFC 253.

Israel Adesanya erased Paulo Costa at UFC 253, winning via knockout in only the second round and handing the Brazilian his first-ever defeat. In doing so, Adesanya reigned as the undisputed king of the middleweight division and is set to make his light-heavyweight debut in a title fight against Jan Blachowicz. However, the ghosts of the past still seem to be haunting  Paulo Costa. Costa recently claimed that he had drunk an entire bottle of wine the night before the fight against Izzy, adding that he had also fought with a hangover.

‘I had wine, too much wine’ – Paulo Costa reveals he consumed an entire bottle of wine ahead of his fight against Israel Adesanya last year

Addressing Paulo Costa’s recent claims in a recent interview with Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie, Israel Adesanya didn’t sound amused. He advised his Brazilian counterpart to ‘accept the fact that he lost’ and ‘swallow his ego’. He also clarified that such a mindset will never be helpful in the long run.

‘He got his ass whooped’

Adesanya was quoted as saying, “That’s just funny. There’s certain things I’ve done before some of my fights in the past where I learnt my mistakes, but I went in and got my job done. Some people aren’t cut out for that lifestyle.”

He continued, “I’ll tell you one thing: The best thing to do in his position is accept the fact he lost. He got his ass whooped. The fact that he keeps trying to make all these excuses, it’s only going to do him worse in the long run. He’s making excuses because his ego can’t handle the fact that ‘The Skinny Clown’ whooped his ass badly then double-tapped him twice.“

He concluded with a piece of advice. He said, “Just swallow your ego. You got your ass whooped. Get back to the drawing board and reassess your whole game. You can’t just rest on that because if you do – this is my advice – you’ll never get far in life, or in this game.”

There are bigger things Paulo Costa should be concentrating right now. He has a high-voltage clash coming up with Robert Whittaker on the 17th of April, later this year. The winner will stake their claim, cementing their place as the number one ranked middleweight contender.