Israel Adesanya seems ready to defend his title against Paulo Costa

UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya was the latest guest on Ariel Helwani’s show.

The Stylebender is in New Zealand right now and was speaking about the possible fight against Paulo Costa.

Izzy defended his title against Yoel Romero and Costa is the next in line. However, the fight is yet to be finalised, despite both stars willing to go. The coronavirus pandemic has affected many fight cards and Helwani pressed if the Khabib-Ferguson curse would hit this one too:

“Nah, nah, don’t curse it.

“That’s not the case, it’s going to happen. The MMA Gods want this to happen. Trust me, this is like some Bruce Lee stuff.”

Helwani pressed on how this was going to be a Bruce Lee kind of fight, and Adesanya claimed Costa was the perfect antagonist.

The New Zealand-Nigerian star also said he was a skinny black kid coming to fight Costa and was confident of getting the win over the Brazilian.

Costa and Adesanya are both unbeaten in their MMA careers, and hopefully, they don’t get hit by the Khabib-Ferguson curse.

The biggest UFC curse?

Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson have been scheduled to fight five times in the past.

However, something or the other crops up and stops the clash from taking place. Both stars picked up injuries just prior to the clash and it was the Gods acting up again.

Khabib was to defend his title against Ferguson at UFC 249, however, the Russian was stuck in his homeland due to the coronavirus.

An interim Lightweight championship match was setup with Ferguson facing Justin Gaethje. While Ferguson was the slight favourite, it was Gaethje that destroyed El Cucuy and won the belt.

Gaethje will now face Khabib for the undisputed title while the UFC fans might never get to see Khabib vs Ferguson.

More UFC news

• Ariel Helwani confirms horrific injuries sustained by Anthony Smith vs Glover Teixeira

• Israel Adesanya tears Jon Jones apart saying champion will not move up to face Francis Ngannou

• Justin Gaethje explains science behind his kicks and the damage it can cause to Khabib Nurmagomedov

Follow our dedicated UFC page for instant UFC news and updates