Israel Adesanya explains Paulo Costa humping incident, points to homophobia as reason for backlash

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya explained the Paulo Costa humping incident, pointing to homophobia as the reason for backlash.

Adesanya scored arguably the most impressive knockout win of his MMA career to date when he finished Costa with strikes in their UFC 253 main event. But what everyone was talking about after the fight was not the knockout, but what happened after. Immediately after the referee stepped in and stopped the fight, Adesanya could be seen humping Costa. He then told Costa’s coach Eric Albarracin that he wanted to ejaculate all over him.

There has been a backlash in the wake of the hump, with many fans, media, and fighters believing that Adesanya went too far. If you ask Adesanya, though, Costa had it coming.

Speaking to MMAFighting.com’s Damon Martin, Adesanya explained why he humped Costa and pointed to homophobia as the reason for the negative backlash to the incident.

“I couldn’t give a f*ck what they think, to be honest. I didn’t even think about it. I didn’t even plan it. It was just justified. Like you know when you’re on ‘Call of Duty’ and you smoke someone with a headshot and then you go over them and then press circle, down, up, down, up, kind of tea bag them. That’s kind of what I did,” Adesanya said.

“What it is, is homophobia. People are just mad ‘why are you doing that, you’re not a man,’ cause they feel inadequate. Questioning their own sexuality.”

It’s certainly an interesting theory put forth by Adesanya. The humping clip has generally not been received well by the MMA community, with UFC color commentator Dan Hardy calling it “crass.” Costa himself was not happy with the incident, either, with reports saying he was “very upset” after seeing the clip. If you ask Adesanya, though, it was just part of the fight game, and if Costa didn’t want that to happen, he should have been more respectful.

“Dude said so much sh*t to me leading up to the fight, insulted me in so many different ways. That was pretty much a second after the fight was over and you expect me to be gracious? Are you f*cking kidding me?” Adesanya said, noting he sent Costa a DM after the fight asking how his leg was feeling.

“I’m not an assh*le. But if you’re an assh*le to me, oh boy, I can give it right back.”

What did you think of the Israel Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa humping incident?