Paulo Costa takes shot at ‘fake’ champ Israel Adesanya after UFC 236

On Saturday night, in the co-main event of the action-packed UFC 236 card, undefeated striking specialist Israel Adesanya claimed the interim middleweight title with a thrilling decision defeat of Kelvin Gastelum.

In the wake of this win, Adesanya has been praised for his incredible efforts and also his ability to survive Gastelum’s many strong moments in the fight. Not everybody, however, is celebrating the new interim middleweight champion.

Paulo Costa, one of the top contenders in the perilous UFC middleweight division, is doing the opposite. Speaking on Instagram after UFC 236 wrapped up, the undefeated Brazilian knockout artist took a shot at Israel Adesanya, questioning his status as a champion.

“Really this is the interim (fake) champ? Hahah .
No doubt this weight division has already been better than this shit. 
Enjoy this while you can man, I really hope that you take the real belt one day to meet me. Note: And I’m not the Gastelum.” – Paulo Costa on Instagram.

With his victory over Kelvin Gastelum, Israel Adesanya is now 6-0 in the UFC, having bested Rob Wilkinson, Marvin Vettori, Brad Tavares, Derek Brunson, Anderson Silva and now Gastelum in a little over a year’s time.

Paulo Costa, on the other hand, has gone 4-0 since joining the UFC roster, stopping Garreth McLellan, Oluwale Bamgbose, Johny Hendricks, and most recently, Uriah Hall. He was recently linked to a bout with Yoel Romero, unfortunately this bout failed to come to fruition.

Do you think we’ll see Adesanya and Costa fight in the future?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 4/14/2019.