Paulo Costa lost the biggest fight of his MMA career in September 2020, losing by TKO in the second round to UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, in Abu Dhabi, and pointed out lack of sleep as one of the reasons he failed performing so well at UFC 253. Five months later, “Borrachinha” reveals that he drank a bottle of wine the night he fought “The Last Stylebender” at Ilha da Luta to try to sleep.
In a video posted on Saturday on his YouTube channel, Costa said that Adesanya had “all the merits to knock me out”, but was hurt the moment he entered the octagon.
“I was a little drunk [when] I struggled, maybe, with a hangover, ”said Costa in Portuguese. “I couldn’t sleep because of the [leg] cramps. Remember that the fight takes place at 9am [local time], we have to wake up at 5 to get ready, stretch, wrap our hands. The UFC told us to wake up at 5 am to go to the arena to fight. I hadn’t slept until 2:30.
“It was my mistake and I don’t blame anyone else, it was something I chose [to do], but to try to sleep, because I had to sleep since I was awake 24 hours, I drank wine, a lot of wine, a bottle [of wine] to try to pass out. I had a glass and it didn’t work. Two glasses, it didn’t work. Half a bottle didn’t work. I had everything. “
In a previous video released on his YouTube channel in November, Costa said “I shouldn’t have fought, I should have postponed it for the next weekend or more”.
“It was a different feeling,” he said in the video posted on Saturday. “I am always very active in every fight. There is some apprehension, fear of being hit and whatnot, so you are ready. In this fight, the championship fight, I was sleepy, yawning and unconcerned. It was weird. I didn’t feel anything, not even an agony, ‘Wow, I’m fighting for the title.’ Not even that. I was very calm. All that calm scared me. “
Costa returns to action on April 17, facing former champion Robert Whittaker in a five-round main event in Las Vegas. For this fight, the Brazilian middleweight promises the fans an “aggressive rubber”.
“In addition to the Adesanya fight where many things happened, many factors that did not allow me to get there well, it will be the same Paulo as always, seeking the knockout at all times,” he said. “That’s what I am. I haven’t changed. It turns out that I had 20, 10 percent of my abilities in the Adesanya fight. We had to change the strategy in the locker room. ‘Don’t attack him, just wait for the first two rounds’, which it was a mistake. Today we know it was a mistake, but talking is easy.
“The right thing would be not to fight the way I was, because I was different. I was different because I was in horrible condition. I didn’t sleep, I felt leg cramps all the time, before going out into the octagon, in the locker room. There are many things we can say, but this is not the case for this video. But the athletic commission came to the locker room twice to check my leg, to get the oil we had used for a massage. But, I will repeat, I was very confident. I wanted to fight, I thought I could. I just think the strategy was wrong, don’t attack it. “