Paulo Costa vs. Israel Adesanya isn’t official just yet.
This past weekend, Combate revealed that Paulo Costa will be the next man to challenge Israel Adesanya for the UFC Middleweight title at UFC 253. While the report never states that the two fighters have officially signed the contract for the big title bout, it was noted that both sides did agree to the match-up.
It appears that Dana White isn’t too thrilled about the news leaking so fast. At the UFC Fight Night: Figueiredo vs. Benavidez II post-fight press conference, the UFC President makes it clear that both men have yet to sign the contract for the potential match-up (Transcript courtesy of MMA Mania):
“I don’t think that’s true. I don’t think both have signed. It’s not done,” White said. “F—ng guys. They were told not to say anything. Combate breaks it immediately, tweeting, you know? The fight is not done.”
White continues to express his frustration over people stating that the fight has been done. He makes note of the lack of an announcement and TV promos for the big championship match, thus fans shouldn’t be getting too excited about a match-up that’s not confirmed yet:
“The people are out saying that the fight is done when the fight isn’t done,” he said. “You know what I mean? It drives me crazy. If the fight was done, you would have saw a promo tonight inside the arena. There would have been promos on TV for it. And we would be announcing the fight. It’s not done.”
It should be noted that Paulo Costa did state on social media that the title fight was finally taking place in September. Adesanya has yet to speak on the possible match-up.