Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa are set to headline UFC 253 this weekend. The two had a run-in at a hotel a few days ago. To the fans, it looked like a very respectful interaction. However, the same is bound to change if you hear the middleweight champ’s side of the story.

During UFC 253 media day, Adesanya detailed every minor aspect of his short meeting with his Brazilian opponent. The meeting and greet was actually a way by which the Nigeria-born Kiwi wanted to size up his opponent. He wanted to feel if “The Eraser” kept the same energy even without a crowd.

However, to his disappointment, Adesanya felt like Costa was a dog kept behind the fence. As soon as he comes out, he becomes all timid.

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“Well, what happened was I walked past him. If you see in my story I checked and he was like what did he say.”

“He said you’re good? I said I’m great. Then Wallid or him muffled something and I doubled back. I just went over there to check his energy. I went there and sized him up patted him on the shoulder to see how dense he is.”

“I shook his hand cause I wanted to feel the kind of pressure that he puts on from a guy who said I would not shake his hand when I beat him,” Adesanya said during UFC 253 media day.

Israel Adesanya always knew Paulo Costa would submit to him

Israel Adesanya is a technical striker with years of kickboxing experience under his belt. Moreover, he has had five-round wars such as the one against Kelvin Gastelum. Furthermore, he is also the busier fighter of the two lately.

Consequently, Adesanya must feel that he is the mentally tougher fighter between the two. After the hotel interaction, that belief was strengthened even more.

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“He’s just like one of those dogs that bark behinds the fence but when the fence opens up he just comes around and is like real timid. I could feel that off him that energy. I even said you look skinny and I expected him to take that the wrong way but he and Wallid were just giggling like little girls.”

“I confirmed what I already knew, I knew they were gonna submit to me. So yeah he didn’t check out when I checked him,” Adesanya added.

The fight between Adesanya and Costa should hopefully be a frontrunner for the ‘Fight of the Year’ honor. Both the middleweights are primarily strikers, and hence they won’t hesitate from trading blows. While Costa relies heavily on his power and volume, Adesanya is the more technically sound fighter who picks his opponents apart.