"100% cheating" - City Kickboxing uses Israel Adesanya clip to slam UFC fighters flouting weight cuts in light of Paulo Costa vs. Marvin Vettori
Israel Adesanya's former foe Paulo Costa has recently fallen out of favor with the MMA world. It happened because of the weight debacle ahead of his UFC Fight Night battle with Marvin Vettori.
Originally scheduled at middleweight, Paulo Costa said he would not be able to make weight and the fight was reportedly moved to a 195lbs. catchweight during fight week. The bout finally took place at light heavyweight. After the event, Costa revealed that he could not train for a few weeks which disrupted his weight-cutting process and blamed the delay on a bicep tear he suffered during training.
Dana White says this fight tonight only happened because of Marvin Vettori. Says he doesn't have a reason why Paulo Costa came in heavy, but gives him a lot of credit for "fighting his ass off" tonight.
In light of the incident, Israel Adesanya's gym City Kickboxing put out a statement on social media. It called out the 'blurred area' of the UFC's rule regarding weight misses and pay cuts.
City Kickboxing requested for "more concise and heavier incentive" to avoid situations where fighters get to make sure they have a weight advantage by letting go of a small percentage of their fight purse.
To drive the point home, City Kickboxing used an old clip of Israel Adesanya talking to Dana White inside the octagon. The middleweight king is heard suggesting an 80% cut for fighters who miss weight:
"These motherf***ers, they are not making weight. Some of them are gangsters. They're making money outside the UFC. 30% is not enough. I know you're not the Athletic Commission but, you have the power. Some of them... look at [UFC] 221. [Yoel] Romero didn't make the weight because he knew... and what did you guys do? Gave him a shot next. You know what I mean? What if he had lost? They don't care. It's cheating. Please, make it 80%. They don't give a f*** about 30. Go take that cut. I bet you. These motherf***ers had 90 minutes to make weight. They didn't. You know why? They b****es," Israel Adesanya said to Dana White.
Watch the video and read the full statement by City Kickboxing below:
During the UFC Fight Night press conference, Marvin Vettori revealed that Paulo Costa threatened to pull out of the fight if he was asked to forfeit too much of his fight purse.
Conor McGregor's coach John Kavanagh agrees with Israel Adesanya and City Kickboxing
The Israel Adesanya clip was shared by Conor McGregor's longtime coach and Ireland's Straight Blast Gym trainer John Kavanagh. He shared the video on his Instagram story with the caption 'word', implying that he is in agreement with the idea.
The clip is from UFC 253, where Israel Adesanya defeated Paulo Costa in a second-round knockout. Adesanya's CKB teammate Shane Young fought on the preliminary card of the pay-per-view and got knocked out by Ludovit Klein, who weighed in four pounds over the featherweight limit.