UFC: Paulo Costa slams ‘dirty Kiwi’ and ‘disgusting’ Israel Adesanya after Yoel Romero 9/11 comments
- Middleweight champion Adesanya says upcoming opponent Romero will ‘crumble like the Twin Towers’ at press conference
- Contender Costa takes issue with comment ‘disrespecting the thousands who died’ and vows to ‘really kill’ Adesanya
UFC middleweight contender Paulo Costa says he “will really kill” divisional champion Israel Adesanya for controversial comments made on an upcoming opponent referencing the September 11 attacks in the US in 2001.
Nigerian-New Zealander Adesanya (18-0), who defends his belt against Yoel Romero at UFC 248 in March, took numerous swipes at the Cuban veteran at a press conference in Auckland last week.
“He’s human like anyone else. And everyone likes to make this myth about how it’s like kicking steel, you hit him he doesn’t fall,” said Adesanya to a live-stream video of Romero.
“I’ll touch him enough times and eventually he’ll crumble like the Twin Towers. Too soon?”
Costa (13-0), an undefeated Brazilian who beat Romero via unanimous decision last August, wrote a scathing message on Twitter:
“Adesanya. You are a disgusting piece of [expletive]. How dare you make a joke disrespecting the thousands who died and heroic firefighters and police. I will really kill you, dirty kiwi.”
Adesanya, who was at UFC Fight Night Auckland in support of teammate and event headliner Dan Hooker on Sunday, has yet to respond to the comments.
Costa and Adesanya have openly aimed fire at each other in the past as they climbed the middle rankings. The 30-year-old Adesanya had previously tweeted emojis of a fuel dispenser and a T-Rex – a dig at Costa’s supposed lack of gas-tank and reach.
The 28-year-old Costa landed in hot water of his own, tweeting in November last year: “Adesanya is afraid, into himself knows. He try looks good but everybody so skinny and fragile as him fell afraid to fight against powerful guys. P**** African!”.
He later clarified in a reply that “I wanna kill only 1 African [...] That skinny bigmouth” before deleting the thread altogether.
Costa has been relatively inactive in recent years because of injuries and allegations of taking performance enhancing drugs. He has yet to have a fight confirmed this year.
Adesanya added that he would be happy to put his belt on the line against contenders Jared Cannonier or Darren Till if Romero fails to make weight.
