Israel Adesanya explains why he gave Paulo Costa the fingers following UFC 243 win

New UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya explained why he gave the middle finger to Paulo Costa following his main event win at UFC 243.

“The Last Stylebender” jumped on top of the Octagon cage after he knocked out Robert Whittaker in the second round of their title fight. He looked right at Costa, who was sitting in the front row, and stuck both his middle fingers up at “Borrachinha.”

In the UFC 243 post-fight press conference, Adesanya explained his reasoning for giving Costa the finger.

“It sells the next fight. It sells the next fight a little bit,” Adesanya told reporters.

“But at the same time, he’s a b*tch. And he’s my b*tch and I’m going to make him my b*tch. So that’s why I did what I did.”

Immediately after defeating Whittaker, Adesanya took the microphone from UFC announcer Jon Anik and said he wanted to fight Costa next in a battle of unbeaten middleweight stars.

Adesanya is a perfect 18-0 after the Whittaker victory, including a brilliant 7-0 mark inside the UFC. In less than two years’ time, Adesanya has gone from UFC prospect to UFC champion. Safe to say it’s been an absolutely incredible ride for him to get to the top.

As for Costa, he’s a perfect 13-0 in his MMA career, including a 5-0 mark in the UFC. Costa was actually a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter Brazil back in 2014 but didn’t make his official UFC debut until 2014. Since then, all he’s done is win fights.

An Adesanysa vs. Costa fight is going to be a big one for the UFC, and these two have wasted no time ramping up the trash talk game in anticipation of them fighting each other. Expect the fight to headline a PPV in early 2020.

How excited are you for a UFC middleweight title fight between Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa?