Israel Adesanya believes Paulo Costa\u2019s success at UFC 318 largely depends on his mindset. Costa is making his first appearance of 2025 this Saturday at UFC 318 in New Orleans, co-headlining the event. Ranked 13th in the middleweight division, “Borrachinha” is the main attraction at the Smoothie King Center and is seen as a key figure leading into Max Holloway\u2019s retirement fight against Dustin Poirier.<\/p>\n
Having only one win in five years, Costa urgently needs a standout performance against Rome\u2019s Kopirov on July 19th. In a recent video on his YouTube channel, Israel Adesanya analyzed the upcoming UFC 318 matchup. Adesanya, who lost to Costa in 2020 before defending his title successfully, didn\u2019t hold back in calling out his former rival.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere was Paulo Costa? I can’t quite recall,\u201d Adesanya said. \u201cHe\u2019s still dangerous, but Costa needs to prove himself again. Show me what you got, man! I believe he has the skills, but I\u2019m not sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adesanya urged Costa to take things seriously, saying, \u201cCosta is fun and entertaining, but he needs to step up. Just focus and be serious. I like the guy, but it\u2019s time to show some real fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Costa\u2019s focus is on this Saturday’s fight, he has already set his sights on future challenges. On the Ariel Helwani Show, “Borrachinha” expressed his desire to fight longtime rival Khamzat Chimaev after beating Kopirov. <\/p>\n
\u201cI want to face Chimaev. We\u2019ve tried for two years, but he\u2019s always declined. The UFC has attempted to arrange this fight, but he keeps saying no. I don\u2019t respect that,\u201d Costa said.<\/p>\n
Chimaev is scheduled to face champion Doricus Duplesis at UFC 319 in August. Should Duplesis win, Costa might need to overcome more opponents to get another title shot.<\/p>\n
Fan Take: This showdown at UFC 318 is pivotal for Paulo Costa’s career redemption, and Adesanya\u2019s comments put a spotlight on Costa\u2019s need to prove his commitment and skill once again. For fight fans, this adds an exciting layer of drama and anticipation, potentially reshaping the middleweight division\u2019s competitive landscape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel Adesanya believes Paulo Costa\u2019s success at UFC 318 largely depends on his mindset. Costa is making his first appearance of 2025 this Saturday at UFC 318 in New Orleans, co-headlining the event. Ranked 13th in the middleweight division, “Borrachinha” is the main attraction at the Smoothie King Center and is seen as a key […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2443],"tags":[2444],"class_list":{"0":"post-14277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fighting","8":"tag-fighting"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}