GDT: UFC 253: Adesanya vs. Costa

[CDJ]

I will reference what I say to pitchers who get mad over a home run trot- pitch better.

If you don’t want the guy you’ve talked shit to for a year to dry hump you when the fight is over then fight better.

I’d be way more embarrassed about my performance than that if I was Costa

 

[Perennial]

I will reference what I say to pitchers who get mad over a home run trot- pitch better.

If you don’t want the guy you’ve talked shit to for a year to dry hump you when the fight is over then fight better.

I’d be way more embarrassed about my performance than that if I was Costa

I'm not at all sensitive about celebrations during sporting events... Terrell Owens, for example, running to the star in Dallas was great!

Baseball players could do cartwheels around the bases after a home run for all I care...

In everyday life though, nobody cares if you do cartwheels, or jog slowly, or pose on a star...

But if some guy were to start dry humping you, well, I'm guessing you'd care about that, right?

 

[CDJ]

I'm not at all sensitive about celebrations during sporting events... Terrell Owens, for example, running to the star in Dallas was great!

Baseball players could do cartwheels around the bases after a home run for all I care...

In everyday life though, nobody cares if you do cartwheels, or jog slowly, or pose on a star...

But if some guy were to start dry humping you, well, I'm guessing you'd care about that, right?

lol that’s fair, but I also wouldn’t immediately try and get myself put back in a situation where I would almost assuredly get dry humped again like Costa seems to be doing here

fight game is a little different than everything else though, I feel like shit gets more personal

 

[CDJ]

I just rewatched round 2 and that head kick Izzy landed sounded like a baseball bat hitting a tree, Costa has a ridiculous chin for not being unconscious

 

[pistolpete11]

I thought Izzy's post fight stuff was a little over the top and I can't argue if people want to hold it against him. But for me, it's kind of like Masvidal giving Edwards the 3 piece and a soda. I don't 'like' it, but don't talk shit.

 

[pistolpete11]

I'm not at all sensitive about celebrations during sporting events... Terrell Owens, for example, running to the star in Dallas was great!

Baseball players could do cartwheels around the bases after a home run for all I care...

In everyday life though, nobody cares if you do cartwheels, or jog slowly, or pose on a star...

But if some guy were to start dry humping you, well, I'm guessing you'd care about that, right?

I'd also care if a 6 foot 200-whatever lb. guy was telling me he was going to kill me, posting pictures of him holding my decapitated head, and all the other shit he said and did. As @CDJ said, it's the fight game. Things are a little bit different in that context.

 

[Avs_19]

It's a fight, they don't like each other, they talked a lot of trash beforehand, and Costa taunted him throughout the actual fight. If you run your mouth then you should expect some unsportsmanlike behaviour after the fact.

Plenty of people dislike Adesanya and are just waiting for reasons to trash him so that helps Costa but he should still probably just chill for a bit. As if losing the fight in that fashion wasn't enough, he's now out here saying he wants an immediate rematch because he got dry humped.

 

[pistolpete11]

For anyone out there still doubting just how much better Izzy is than Costa (and most likely that entire division) and want to say Costa just had the wrong game plan or didn't show up or whatever:



If you don't have nearly 40min :

That Stylebender guy is pretty good, eh? I don't think people are giving him enough credit for last night, to be honest. Part of it might have been Costa's gameplan or the execution of it, but I think a lot of it is because of Izzy. He froze Costa with the feints and then started chewing up his leg. He's too smart, too fast, and two furious to just let Costa back him up against the fence like Romero, Hall, and Hendricks did. He was just out of reach a lot when Costa did throw. It's easy to say be more aggressive, but when you don't know where your target is going to be or what's coming back at you, it's not so easy to actually do it.

Just kidding. As usual, Luke goes into great detail and provides video evidence. It's worth a watch for anybody and especially any of the Izzy doubters. The dude is on a different level when it comes to striking in the UFC.

 

[pistolpete11]

It's a fight, they don't like each other, they talked a lot of trash beforehand, and Costa taunted him throughout the actual fight. If you run your mouth then you should expect some unsportsmanlike behaviour after the fact.

Plenty of people dislike Adesanya and are just waiting for reasons to trash him so that helps Costa but he should still probably just chill for a bit. As if losing the fight in that fashion wasn't enough, he's now out here saying he wants an immediate rematch because he got dry humped.

I never said anything before because I thought it could just be the language barrier and as someone who can only speak one language and is not a world class fighter, I should probably continue to shut my mouth, but....

Costa seems really dumb. Fighting style is one thing and as I said English is his second language, but he just seems dumb. Demanding a rematch after that ass kicking? That just kind of solidifies it. He also said "Nobody can stop me" and "He (Stylebender) knows." Like dude, what are you talking about? You're acting like we didn't just see him KO you in one of the more one sided title fights .

 

[member 51464]

I never said anything before because I thought it could just be the language barrier and as someone who can only speak one language and is not a world class fighter, I should probably continue to shut my mouth, but....

Costa seems really dumb. Fighting style is one thing and as I said English is his second language, but he just seems dumb. Demanding a rematch after that ass kicking? That just kind of solidifies it. He also said "Nobody can stop me" and "He (Stylebender) knows." Like dude, what are you talking about? You're acting like we didn't just see him KO you in one of the more one sided title fights .

To be fair, after eating a clean headkick like that, his brain is probably still scrambled anyway.

It'll be a bit, but Costa can win his way back to a rematch. It'll be interesting to see if he decides going to 205 now makes more sense anyway. Either way, he's got work to do.

 

[m9]

I'm not at all sensitive about celebrations during sporting events... Terrell Owens, for example, running to the star in Dallas was great!

Baseball players could do cartwheels around the bases after a home run for all I care...

In everyday life though, nobody cares if you do cartwheels, or jog slowly, or pose on a star...

But if some guy were to start dry humping you, well, I'm guessing you'd care about that, right?

Totally agreed. Obviously it's not the end of the world and life goes on, but it was unnecessary and quite childish by Adesanya. I think there is an obvious difference between pre-fight trash talk or mocking in the cage vs fake-humping someone who is KO'd on the ground.

 

[N o o d l e s]

Thoughts on Usman vs Adesanya?

Usman said he would never fight him.

Not sure if a big money opportunity would change his mind but he sounded pretty serious out of principle when he said it

 

[Perennial]

I'd put Cannonier in right away with Adesanya...

And have Costa fight Whittaker in a #1 contender bout

 

[pistolpete11]

To be fair, after eating a clean headkick like that, his brain is probably still scrambled anyway.

It'll be a bit, but Costa can win his way back to a rematch. It'll be interesting to see if he decides going to 205 now makes more sense anyway. Either way, he's got work to do.

Yeah, for sure, he can win his way back to another shot....but it's going to take 2-3 top 5 wins and he's going to have to grow by leaps and bounds for me to think he has a shot.

 

[BGDDYKWL]

A Costa rematch is a very tough sell IMO. And I'm not even talking immediate. That was as one-sided a fight as you'll ever see. It wasn't a situation where a guy just got caught.

Not to go too psychologist but that fight gave a lot of insight into Costa's mind. Some guys are just born fighters, literally no fear. Hendo, Shogun, prime Wand, Fedor, probably put Chuck in there, etc. Then you have another group of guys who look like absolute killers until the going gets tough (Rumble for instance). Costa is in the second category. When he couldn't figure out the distance and those shots were landing and hurting his instinct was not to press forward, it was to retreat. Nothing will ever change that. Doesn't mean he could never beat Adesanya, but it makes it much tougher to sell a rematch. Romero for instance, he had absolutely zero fear in that fight. That rematch is an easy sell IMO.

I realize, much easier said than done, but I'll never understand why guys don't close distance with their hands glued to their head, elbows tucked, lots of feints and head movement, but essentially never exposed. Sure you'll probably eat a shot or two, but it will be easily blocked/defended. Now you're at a distance where Adesanya can't pick you apart. Now I realize beating Adesanya in the clinch, taking him down, pinning him to the fence, etc., are all easier said than done, but it's just not THAT hard to move forward while blocking to at least get to a range where you can attempt those things.

 

[CDJ]

Costa got dropped in the Hall fight and kept pressing forward. Thats what makes this fight so weird to me. We’ve seen costa withstand major damage to pick up the win. It’s almost like he never showed up

Could have been pressure, he’s never been in that spot before

 

[member 51464]

I think it's possible to read too much into any one fight. Let's see how costa looks in his next fight not against Israel. Does he show any growth? Etc...

 

[BGDDYKWL]

Costa got dropped in the Hall fight and kept pressing forward. Thats what makes this fight so weird to me. We’ve seen costa withstand major damage to pick up the win. It’s almost like he never showed up

Could have been pressure, he’s never been in that spot before

Outside all of the talk, all of the bravado, all the theatrics, deep deep down, a fighter knows if he truly believes he's better than his opponent or not. I don't think Costa had any fear/doubt with Hall, so getting hurt didn't rattle him because his belief was still that he was better.

With Adesanya you have an Anderson mystique, and no matter how hard he tried to both hide it and convince himself otherwise, he was afraid. Romero was not. It's just a different brain wiring.

We saw it a lot with Anderson. Guys were defeated before they even stepped in the cage. I truly believe that's what happened with Costa.

 

[pistolpete11]

Outside all of the talk, all of the bravado, all the theatrics, deep deep down, a fighter knows if he truly believes he's better than his opponent or not. I don't think Costa had any fear/doubt with Hall, so getting hurt didn't rattle him because his belief was still that he was better.

With Adesanya you have an Anderson mystique, and no matter how hard he tried to both hide it and convince himself otherwise, he was afraid. Romero was not. It's just a different brain wiring.

We saw it a lot with Anderson. Guys were defeated before they even stepped in the cage. I truly believe that's what happened with Costa.

I think there might be more of that now, but going into this fight, I'm not so sure. Many people thought Costa was going to bully him and knock him out and even most of the people that thought Izzy was going to win thought he was going to have to walk through hell to do it. Most fighters are egomaniacs, so I'd bet Costa not only thought he had a chance, but that he was going to knock Izzy out.

I think Costa might have come out a little bit slower than usual because it was a 5 round fight, but from there, I think Izzy just overloaded his brain with the feints, fakes, kicks, etc. Izzy is simply a much, much smarter fighter and was several steps ahead of him the whole time.

 

[Islay1989]

Costa is approaching Rockhold level of stupidity in regard to his behavior after a loss.

 

[BGDDYKWL]

I think there might be more of that now, but going into this fight, I'm not so sure. Many people thought Costa was going to bully him and knock him out and even most of the people that thought Izzy was going to win thought he was going to have to walk through hell to do it. Most fighters are egomaniacs, so I'd bet Costa not only thought he had a chance, but that he was going to knock Izzy out.

I think Costa might have come out a little bit slower than usual because it was a 5 round fight, but from there, I think Izzy just overloaded his brain with the feints, fakes, kicks, etc. Izzy is simply a much, much smarter fighter and was several steps ahead of him the whole time.

The people who thought that based it off what we had previously seen, and understandably so. What I'm saying is we got some real insight into Costa's psyche in this fight. He's not what we thought. He cowered/froze when things got tough. I keep mentioning Hendo for ease of example, but there are certainly others. Hendo's instinct is always to fire back, even when he's badly rocked. Costa's usually is, but he was afraid of Adesanya. I'm of the belief that deep down this existed before the fight, but it's certainly possible the switch flipped during the fight when the strikes hurt more than anything he's felt and he realized how outclassed he was on the feet, but the point remains.

Look at a guy like Chael or Khabib, they'll bullrush you immediately, and continue to do so. I think Khabib has that warrior mentality, whereas with Chael it's not instinctual, but he does a very good job of willing himself to do it.

If Costa truly believed he could bully the scrawny Adesanya the second that bell rang he would've walked forward, closed distance, and unloaded. He did the complete opposite. Some will say it was simply game plan. Possible. But I think he froze. The moment, the opponent, the stakes, perhaps a combination of all of it, but he cowered.

If I truly think I'm a killer, and I can break this string bean standing in front of me, why am I pacing for 5 rounds? I'm just gonna bullrush him, bully him, and knock him the F out.

 

[pistolpete11]

The people who thought that based it off what we had previously seen, and understandably so. What I'm saying is we got some real insight into Costa's psyche in this fight. He's not what we thought. He cowered/froze when things got tough. I keep mentioning Hendo for ease of example, but there are certainly others. Hendo's instinct is always to fire back, even when he's badly rocked. Costa's usually is, but he was afraid of Adesanya. I'm of the belief that deep down this existed before the fight, but it's certainly possible the switch flipped during the fight when the strikes hurt more than anything he's felt and he realized how outclassed he was on the feet, but the point remains.

Look at a guy like Chael or Khabib, they'll bullrush you immediately, and continue to do so. I think Khabib has that warrior mentality, whereas with Chael it's not instinctual, but he does a very good job of willing himself to do it.

If Costa truly believed he could bully the scrawny Adesanya the second that bell rang he would've walked forward, closed distance, and unloaded. He did the complete opposite. Some will say it was simply game plan. Possible. But I think he froze. The moment, the opponent, the stakes, perhaps a combination of all of it, but he cowered.

If I truly think I'm a killer, and I can break this string bean standing in front of me, why am I pacing for 5 rounds? I'm just gonna bullrush him, bully him, and knock him the F out.

Yeah, I get what you're saying, I just don't think that's the case. Anybody that stands and bangs with Yoel f***ing Romero isn't afraid of anybody.

I think he's just dumb, especially compared to Izzy. I think he thought Izzy would just accept having his back against the cage because that's what he's used to in the octagon. The guys he has faced have been passive (Romero), just not all that good (Hall), or he had a massive size advantage (Hendricks). But Izzy stood his ground and chopped his leg down and he always had an escape path when he did start to get too close to the fence. When Costa did throw, Izzy was always out of reach because he has the reach advantage, is faster, and again had escape paths because he could easily read Costa. On top of that, Izzy was constantly feinting and faking and because Costa is dumb and just not that technical of a striker, he couldn't get a read on what was coming back at him or where his target was going to be. It's easy to say just bull rush him, but that shit doesn't work on guys as smart as Izzy.

I think you're underestimating guys like Khabib. Khabib is a f***ing savage, but he's not out there bull rushing guys. His striking 'isn't good' in the sense he's not winning a stand up fight, but he uses it very well to setup the take downs. He's very smart and not just some meathead like Costa.

I said it Sunday morning, but people aren't giving Izzy enough credit. He won that fight because he is on a different level than Costa and was always several steps ahead at all times. He's just that good. It's not that Costa was afraid or didn't have the right gameplan. He's just not on Izzy's level. And frankly, I think we all probably overestimated Costa to a certain degree.

 

[CDJ]

People like comparing Izzy to Jones and they are totally different styles of fighter but one thing they share is elite-level processing. They will sniff you out and shut every effective part of your game down if you let them

It’s why you see the rematches with Jones go even worse for the opponent than the initial fight. I would imagine a rematch with Costa right now gets done in 1 round. Their brains operate at a higher level than everybody else

 

[CutOnDime97]

Izzy vs Jones makes a lot of sense. Izzy likes the "passing of the torch" narrative (Silva fight) and Jones seems to want big paydays for the last few fights of his career. Jones also doesn't really ruin his legacy if he loses.

If not Jones then Jan is the only thing I'm interested in watching for Izzy. No one left in 185.

 

[pistolpete11]

Izzy vs Jones makes a lot of sense. Izzy likes the "passing of the torch" narrative (Silva fight) and Jones seems to want big paydays for the last few fights of his career. Jones also doesn't really ruin his legacy if he loses.

If not Jones then Jan is the only thing I'm interested in watching for Izzy. No one left in 185.

Izzy-Jones doesn't really make sense with Jones going to HW, though, and it would be really lame for him to come back and take the belt back from Jan after JUST dropping it. It would make it look like he was just afraid of the Reyes rematch (which he might have been).

Izzy-Jan doesn't make sense at this point either. Santos-Glover winner should get the next title shot at 205. And if Cannonier beats Whittaker, he deserves a shot at 185 even if I don't think he presents a major threat to Izzy.