Paulo Costa Will Scream in his Pillow Forever Now ...

[Stagliano]

One of the worst gameplans in a long time. Almost wanted to toss my jack n coke at the tv. Also think the moment got to him and he choked. They interviewed some people close to him and it really sounded like he was psychotic with his desire to be champ. Its all he cared about, he really wanted it bad. Pressure might have been too much, he looked exhausted before the fight too.

These type of brutal loses have broken good fighters before will see if he can bounce back. Hope he finds a better coach too

I agree. Paulo lost against himself, Izzy has nothing to do with it. Once he handle the pressure better, Izzy is done.

 

[Th3Sav4ge]

Almost feel sorry for the guy, but not really. He brought this on himself.

I can't think of a worse performance by any athlete, led by a worse strategy, with a worse more embarrassing outcome ... ever ... in the history of MMA or combat sports.

rashad vs lyoto

 

[Stagliano]

Lol

 

[crodor3]

Almost feel sorry for the guy, but not really. He brought this on himself.

I can't think of a worse performance by any athlete, led by a worse strategy, with a worse more embarrassing outcome ... ever ... in the history of MMA or combat sports.

The fight was billed as two undefeated fighters with a serious grudge match, and Costa (a life time BJJ practitioner) was surrounded by the finest wrestling coach/wrestler in MMA, Eric Albarracin (a Pan-American Silver Medalist), and Henry Cejudo (an Olympic gold medalist).

Fireworks were predicted, and yet what we saw was a complete mismatch.

IMO, it should not have been a mismatch. It was a mismatch because of the worst strategy possible to face Izzy. Costa needs to fire the people around him, or quit fighting, because there's not a brain in the group.

I'd really like to know who on earth devised that ridiculous fight strategy? To stand there, right in Izzy's territory, and neither "go for it" ... as the two-fisted pressure slugger he's always been ... or to add clinchwork/takedowns to the mix and ground and pound the guy ... but to just "stand there" like a target for a known sharpshooter. I mean WTF?

Honestly, it was the damnedest thing I ever saw. Paulo Costa had his opportunity, and blew it. He choked. I already made the other post that he was "more worried about his stamina" than he was focused on fighting, but it's worse than that.

The truth is, his coaches, not to mention his own judgment, allowed him the dumbest game plan of all time. Not to add grappling to the mix (when surrounded by wrestlers, and as a BJJ black belt), and/or not to take the fist-ighting to a level beyond skills, and just make it a slugfest, was the stupidest non-strategy I've ever seen.

To stand there in front of a lifetime kickboxer, whose faster than you, and better than you, as a strategy for "winning" was a moment blown the likes of which will likely not be seen again.

And of course the "punctuation mark" left by Izzy at the end (in the end?) will probably have Costa screaming in his pillow, every night, for the rest of his life.

I agree. If the guy who fought Yoel showed up that would have been a fight. I am still in disbelief hat he showed up out of it like that. Even the walk out he looked scared, unsure and nothing like the guy that showed up for almost all his other fights. I have to believe something internal was the cause, otherwise his camp is filled with goofs..

 

[crodor3]

This loss was equally as bad as McGregor loss to khabib, at least Conor got paid a boatload. Like Conor, Costas confidence will never be the same again

much worse..at least connor was in the fight a bit.

 

[crodor3]

His path to victory was bullying and pressure...once he took that lead leg out his plan was not able to be enacted. He literally had no other options and no plan b. pretty poor coaching in that regard

 

[dildos]

you did mean 'bite his pillow' not 'scream in his pillow' didnt you??

 

[LoneStalker]

I can´t stand Costa.
And probably Izzy's humping after the TKO was unnecessary.
But nobody in the whole universe was more deserving of that treatment than Costa.

Now, even not liking the guy, clearly I was expecting more from him. Massive hype, a couple of top wins and a title shot, given to a guy who is obviously capable to fight. It was clear to me that Costa had nothing for a fighter like Adesanya's caliber, but I was expecting more. Or expecting him to do something. Whatever, but something. In the first minute of the fight, when he started clowning about Izzy´s kicks it was evident that his only gameplan was to call Izzy to trade leather, to brawl. It was utterly ridiculous.
My question is: was it just a bad gameplan or Costa froze? Maybe both, but I just don´t believe that a fighter at this level would freeze.
But I was shocked to see Costa´s hopeless lack of distance control, he was always too far away or too close for his punches or even kicks. I've never seen this level of deficit in a title fight, as a fighter who wants to be a champion bus be able to control the distance. It was painful to see.
So, it seems to me that Costa´s problem was not only a very, very bad gameplan, but also a very, very bad training camp to work on fundamentals. Maybe he wasn´t mentally prepared to face adversity.

Also, the day before the fight there were several thread questioning if Costa really has a small gas tank.
I guess this discussion has been put to rest.

 

[JosephMerrick]

Once he handle the pressure better, Izzy is done.

 

[PeacePipe]

I'm not sure if it was strategy or if he was just overwhelmed and froze.

He just couldn't close th distance.he was trying