After UFC 241, Paulo Costa thinks Robert Whittaker, Israel Adesanya scared of him

ANAHEIM, Calif. – At the conclusion of Paulo Costa’s fight Saturday night, the fans at Honda Center seemed thrilled. But they weren’t the only ones.

The UFC brass was happy enough with the performance Costa (13-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) put on against former title challenger Yoel Romero (13-4 MMA, 9-3 UFC) to give the two middleweights “Fight of the Night” honors for their clash on the UFC 241 main card in Anaheim, Calif.

“I feel very happy because I showed to everybody around the world how tough of a guy I am,” Costa said at the post-event news conference. “I beat Yoel Romero. For me, he’s one of the best fighters in the world – the toughest guy in this division – after me now. I beat him and I’m happy. That’s it.”

With the victory, Costa remained undefeated and potentially aligned himself with a title fight against the winner of Robert Whittaker vs. Israel Adesanya. The two Australasians will square off in a middleweight title unification bout Oct. 5 at UFC 243 in Melbourne, Australia.

Costa has long voiced his distaste for current interim champ Adesanya. The two have exchanged words on social media and in interviews on more than one occasion. In the past, “Borrachinha” has called the New Zealander “a scrawny clown,” and said Adesanya wouldn’t last two rounds with him.

Saturday night, Costa didn’t hold back. “The Eraser” gave his prediction for the matchup between his Whittaker and Adesanya, but voiced the difference between whom he believes will win and whom he’s rooting for. Regardless, Costa said he thinks both men are scared to fight him.

“I think they both are looking (at) me scared,” Costa said. “Both guys know now they have a very, very tough guy looking for them. I think Whittaker will beat Adesanya. I beat Romero and I thought Romero won against Robert Whittaker.

“But if Adesanya won and took the belt? Man, I could kill that guy. He’s very skinny. He doesn’t have a chance against me. I think he will be defeated.”

Over the past year, it has become increasingly common for the UFC to designate “backup fighters” to weigh in for major title fights. If a champion or challenger was to fall out of a title fight, there would be a convenient replacement contender who trained and prepared for that date.

When asked if he could serve as the backup fighter for UFC 243, Costa quickly shot down the idea, citing the grueling nature of his training camp and all the injuries he sustained over the past year as a result.

“No, no, no. I train too hard to be a backup. I train so hard,” Costa said. “… My camp is wild. I forgot to say in the octagon, I broke my wrist this year. I broke two ribs last camp. I tore (a muscle) off the leg. Man, this is crazy. I brought in nine fighters to spar with me. All (the) guys went back home with injuries. It was a wild training camp. I cannot be (without) a camp.”

Costa, 28, has won all five of his UFC bouts, but the victory over Romero on Saturday marked the first time Costa went to the judges’ scorecards. Prior to the win at UFC 241, Costa defeated Uriah Hall, Johny Hendricks, Oluwale Bamgbose, and Garreth McLellan by knockout or TKO