Paulo Costa’s longtime manager Wallid Ismail reveals that “Borrachinha” was planning on moving up to light heavyweight after taking the middleweight title away from Israel Adesanya at UFC 253, but everything changed after “The Last Stylebender’s” post-fight antics.
Costa was stopped by Adesanya in the second round of Saturday night’s title bout in Abu Dhabi, suffering his first loss as a professional MMA fighter, and Ismail told MMA Fighting on Monday that Adesanya “riding” Costa after the stoppage convinced the Brazilian to postpone his 205-pound debut in order to get revenge.