After his fight will Robert Whittaker fell through, Paulo Costa began contractual negotiations with the UFC. Former title challenger Costa is one of the most loved yet violent fighters in the whole company. It appears that the UFC may not have finalized the fight with Whittaker but still announced it as leverage to get Costa to sign a new contract, which unfortunately did not work.
Having incredible fights with Yoel Romero, Luke Rockhold, and Marvin Vettori. He’s a fighter that many fans were sad to see potentially leave the UFC. During the negotiation period, it did look like Costa wasn’t going to resign from the UFC despite being one of the top contenders in the division.
Paulo Costa Signs New Contract
After his fight with Rockhold, Costa only had one fight left on his contract and was demanding more money for his next fight, which was seemingly to be against Whittaker but unfortunately fell through. Now confirming that he, his manager, and the UFC have come to terms on a new multi-fight deal. He’s also said that he’s been offered a fight with Sean Strickland in may and another fight against Khamzat Chimaev in October at the recently announced UAE event.
“I haven’t signed the contract yet but we have reached a deal with the UFC regarding the pay,” Paulo Costs said during an interview with PVT. “It wasn’t easy, there was a lot of hard work, and I have to highlight Tamara’s (Alves) brilliant work here.”
“I want that, too,” Paulo Costa said of a fight with Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland. “[The UFC] want to make sure this (Khamzat) Chimaev fight happen at all costs, but I want to make both happen. We’ll see.”
Quotes via LowKick MMA
After suffering a knockout loss to former champion Israel Adesanya in September 2020 and then going on to lose a 205lbs fight against Vettori, Costa needed a win desperately. Fortunately for fans, he ended up fighting and beating Rockhold in an epic back and forth battle last August.
Costa does also have a legendary win over Yoel Romero which was one of the most hyped-up fights in the middleweight division that certainly lived up to the hype.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
