Israel Adesanya slams Paulo Costa ahead of UFC 253, labels him “dirtiest fighter in MMA”

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya gave another touch to his next fight with Paulo Costa by labelling him “the dirtiest fighter in MMA”. The two fighters have been exchanging words on social media for almost a year and at UFC 253 they will finally get a chance to face each other in a middleweight title bout. The PPV will take place on September 26 at Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, marking UFC’s return to ‘Fight Island’. UFC president Dana White earlier claimed that the fight has the potential to be the “Fight of the Year” as both Adesanya and Costa have an aggressive and technical fighting style.

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UFC 253: Israel Adesanya slams Paulo Costa

With UFC 253 just around the corner, Israel Adesanya is beginning to make the media rounds for interviews. A couple of days ago, The Last Stylebender appeared on “First We Feast” where he played ‘Truth or Dab’ with heavyweight boxing star Anthony Joshua and show host Seth Evans. When Evans asked Adesanya to name the dirtiest fighter in MMA, Adesanya wasted no time in taking Paulo Costa’s name. Israel Adesanya accused The Brazilian of taking various supplements before vowing to “pop him before USADA does”.

“Oooh, the dirtiest fighter in the sport? There’s a few. Even the guy that I’m fighting next (Costa). Like I said, I’m going to pop him before USADA does. But he’s definitely got some extra supplements south of the border that he takes,” added Israel Adesanya.

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Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa are currently undefeated in UFC and will main-event UFC 253. The co-main-event of the PPV will see the crowning of a new light-heavyweight champion as Dominick Reyes and Jan Blachowicz will face each other for the title which Jon Jones had vacated a couple of weeks ago before moving to the heavyweight division. Here’s the complete UFC 253 fight card released by the promotion.

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UFC 253: Main fight card

• Middleweight (title bout): Israel Adesanya (c) vs Paulo Costa
• Light Heavyweight (title bout): Dominick Reyes vs Jan Błachowicz
• Flyweight: Kai Kara-France vs Brandon Royval                                              
• Women's Bantamweight: Ketlen Vieira vs Sijara Eubanks                                          
• Featherweight: Hakeem Dawodu vs Zubaira Tukhugov   

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Image Source: Israel Adesanya, Paulo Costa Instagram