"I fought kind of half-drunk" - Paulo Costa reveals he had an entire bottle of wine ahead of title fight against Israel Adesanya at UFC 253
Paulo Costa has admitted that he drank an entire bottle of wine before his title fight against middleweight champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 253.
MMA fans were disappointed by Paulo Costa's performance in the fight against Adesanya, who won via second-round knockout. The Brazilian couldn't reproduce his characteristic fighting traits and aggressiveness.
In a video uploaded by Paulo Costa to his YouTube channel, the UFC middleweight contender explained what happened ahead of the title fight in Abu Dhabi.
"To that fight against [Israel] Adesanya, I used only 10 or 20% of my capacity. We had to change our strategy in the changing room. 'Do not attack him. Let's just wait for the first two rounds,' we agreed on. It was a mistake. Today, we know it was a mistake. The right thing to do would have been not to fight."
Paulo Costa continued the narrative of what occurred the night before the event kicked off by sharing a peculiar story.
"A detail of something for this fight that has never happened with me before: I fought [Adesanya] kind of half-drunk, maybe. Hungover," Paulo Costa revealed. "I couldn't sleep the night before because of my leg cramps, and the fight was at 9 am there, so we had to get up at 5 am. The UFC asks us to wake up at that time so we can stretch, warm-up, and get ready for the fight.
"It was 2:30 am, and I hadn't slept yet. And this was my mistake. I don't blame anyone for this. It was something that I chose to do: Because I needed to sleep - I had been awake for over 24 hours - I [decided to] drink wine. An entire bottle to try to pass out and sleep. I drank one glass; it didn't work. Half a bottle didn't work either. Then I drank the entire bottle. So, I had this very weird feeling before the fight. I always enter the octagon very active, but for this one - the title fight, I was sleepy and not worried at all."
Paulo Costa is scheduled to fight Robert Whittaker at a UFC Fight Night event on April 17. They are the best-ranked fighters in the division and will be looking for an interim title fight if Adesanya decides to stay longer at light heavyweight.
Paulo Costa had "leg cramps" before UFC 253 title fight
In the same video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Paulo Costa gave another possible reason that hindered his performance in the defeat to Israel Adesanya.
According to the Brazilian middleweight, he suffered from horrible leg cramps even minutes ahead of the bout.
"My condition was terrible. I didn't sleep the night before. I was having severe leg cramps all the time - even in the locker room. The athletic commission came to my locker room twice to check on my leg. They removed this oil that we had put on my leg to massage it. But I'm a very confident person. I wanted to fight. I convinced myself that I could fight, but we took the wrong approach by not attacking [Adesanya]."