TROLLED! When Yoel Romero Fooled Paulo Costa in the Middle of the Match

Paulo Costa will finally get his chance to fight for the UFC Middleweight title. The Brazilian fighter has had to wait a long time since earning the shot by beating Yoel Romero at UFC 241. On the night, ‘Soldier of God’ hilariously managed to trick ‘Borrachinha’ to look away. However, in retrospect, all he may have done was get Costa even more charged up.

‘Borrachinha’ admitted that his opponent had succeeded in tricking him. He said, “He heard and he point, put the finger, look this. I look and when I look for him again, he punch my face. Yes, I duck down and come back.”

Paulo Costa overcomes hilarious troll at UFC 241

The incident took place just around the one minute mark in the first of three rounds. Here, Costa connected with a left and had Romero on all fours. ‘Soldier of God’ grabbed hold of the Brazilian fighter’s ankle. As ‘Borrachinha’ went down to inflict more punishment, Romero swiftly rose and staggered to the Octagon fence. 

Costa too rose and closed in again. Here, Romero pointed to his right and ‘Borrachinha’s left. To his credit, Costa did not turn his face completely, but a mere glance may have caused him to miss his punch. 

‘Soldier of God’ took advantage and connected with a right hand to send Costa to the canvas. He bounced back up and Romero tried to tackle him. As the audience erupted, both fighters fell and tried their best to hurt each other and land more significant strikes. 

Yoel Romero’s efforts on the night resulted in him being the first and to date the only fighter to take Paulo Costa the distance. He went down via unanimous decision, however, he turned out to be the one to benefit. This is because the Brazilian suffered a bicep injury and couldn’t fight Israel Adesanya at the start of 2020. 

Romero took the fight and went down to ‘The Last Stylebender at UFC 248. The event was the UFC’s final PPV offering with fans in the arena. 

What did you make of Yoel Romero’s spur of the moment idea to hoodwink Paulo Costa? Should he have done more with the ensuing punch following the troll?

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