Costa Still Wine-ing About Adesanya Loss

It’s been almost a year since reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya smoked top-ranked middleweight contender Paulo Costa and yet “The Eraser” can’t seem to put the performance behind him and move forward.

Sound familiar?

That’s why the Brazilian continues to peddle his late-night wine excuse to anyone who will listen, including Brett Okamoto, elaborating on the sour grapes that may (or may not) have led to his second-round technical knockout defeat.

“I trained more than is recommended after a weight cut and I think this made a lot of problems in my body,” Costa told ESPN. “I had a lot of cramps and I had a lot of problems trying to sleep. After the physical therapist stepped out of my room, I went to my bed but couldn’t fall asleep. I tried melatonin, but it didn’t work. Sometimes I will use one cup of wine when I feel a lot of stress, it’s helped me a little bit, but just one cup, when I have time to put it out of my body. But it was too late. I was desperate to fall asleep.”

Costa, 30, is hoping to rebound from his Adesanya loss against fellow middleweight bruiser Marvin Vettori. They’re scheduled to throw hands as part of the UFC “Fight Night” event on Oct. 23, presumably in Las Vegas, Nevada.

As for Adesanya, the once-beaten “Stylebender” is expected to rematch former 185-pound kingpin Robert Whittaker later this year, though Darren Till and Jared Cannonier will both be in the running with respective victories over the next few weeks.