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“He needs to pump the brakes and slow down, make sure he’s 100 percent and doesn’t get hurt again, and then we can do that fight after Romero.”
Top-ranked UFC middleweight contender Paulo Costa is furious that Israel Adesanya will be defending his middleweight title against Yoel Romero at UFC 248, as he feels ‘The Last Stylebender’ should have sat out and waited till ‘Borrachinha’ returns to the cage in June.
It looks like Costa is taking out his frustration in the training room, as UFC president Dana White said the Brazilian is working out in the gym like he’s got a title fight coming up.
Costa is currently recovering from surgery, however, and White urged the heavy kitting knockout artist to ‘slow down’ to avoid causing any more damage to his arm and further jeopardise his proposed title fight against Adesanya.
“Costa is in this big rush,” White said at the UFC 246 post-fight press conference this past Saturday at T-Mobile Arena (h/t MMA Fighting). “We’re watching his Instagram the other day, and the guy is working out like he’s training for a fight right now. You shouldn’t be doing that when you just got done with surgery, and they are saying now you’ll be ready for June.
“He shouldn’t be training like that. You know what happens when you do that? You get hurt again. He needs to pump the brakes and slow down, make sure he’s 100 percent and doesn’t get hurt again, and then we can do that fight after Romero.”
UFC 248, which features Adesanya vs. Romero as the main event, takes place on March 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
