Paulo Costa has made it very clear he’s not worried about what Israel Adesanya will bring to the Octagon when they fight at UFC 253, and now he’s pointing to the champ’s losses in the kickboxing ring, as a reason why.

Costa brings up Adesanya’s KO loss to Alex Pereira

As Adesanya rose up the ranks of the UFC’s middleweight division, Costa repeatedly argued that his power and size will be too much for the “The Last Stylebender”. Now he’s booked to fight the middleweight champ at UFC 253, September 26th, and Costa continues to push that narrative.

Case in point, Costa recently appeared on “Submission Radio“, and once again, he claimed the vaunted striker will be outgunned and overpowered when they fight (quotes via MMA Mania).

“I like to think of myself like a real tough guy, maybe the toughest guy on the planet, because I train very hard, with two, three guys at the same session training, with very hard hits, very hard punches, very hard kicks for real. 100 percent, I mean.

Not just fake, just shadowboxing. No. So, this makes me very prepared to fight in real fights with real opponents like Romero.

I am not afraid to get hit, because I did this already in my fight camp for two or three months. So, I’m properly prepared to make it a real fight.”

“So, that’s the difference I think I have between me and Adesanya,” Costa continued.

“He’s fragile. He knows that. He knows he’s fragile. He knows he cannot get two or three very hard hits on his face, on his body.

He will be broken. He knows that already because he knocked out two times, with big gloves in kickboxing to a guy named Alex Pereira with big gloves, 14 or 16 oz gloves.

Imagine what I can do with him, with his skinny, fragile body with 4oz on my hands.”

Is Costa onto something?

So, clearly the war of words between Costa and Adesanya isn’t letting up, as they prepare to fight next month. But, does Costa have a pointing? Bringing up Adesanya’s KO loss to Alex Pereira in 2017?

Well, first off, if you don’t follow kickboxing, you may not be aware that Pereira is GLORY’s middleweight champion and he also holds the interim light heavyweight title. The Brazilian is also a ridiculously powerful puncher. 

So, one could make the argument that Pereira is a more dangerous striker than Costa, regardless of the glove size.

That said, Adesanya has been tagged with some heavy shots in a couple of his UFC bouts to date. If that happens against the massive Costa, he could be in a world of trouble, fast. 

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