The fan favourite, Paulo Costa, returned to the Octagon at UFC 298 earlier this month after a long hiatus from competition. He faced off against the former UFC middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker, and lost via unanimous decision. Despite the loss, Costa has remained in good spirits, continuing his comedic persona outside of fighting. In a classic Costa-style interview with Submission Radio, Costa called out Kamaru Usman as a potential next fight.
“[Usman] comes from loss, I come from loss,” Costa told Submission Radio. “So, yes, me and him need to put a win in the records. I think he did already everything that he showed to do in welterweight. So, I think it’s time.”
Paulo Costa believes that as Usman ages, it’s time for the former UFC welterweight champion to make the jump up in weight permanently.
“He’s not so young as well,” Costa explained. “He’s like 37, 36. I don’t know, something around that. So, I think it’s time for him to move to middleweight. He did once against [Khamzat] Chimaev, you know, ‘Gourmet Chechen’. But, was nothing there in the whole process. Like, he just got a short notice and came up to middleweight weighing welterweight… So I think this fight makes sense and he’s kind of a powerful guy. Yeah, he has different skills on the ground, wrestling skills, takedowns and striking. I think it’s a fight to make, you know, and to put one of us in the line again at the top.”
UFC Star Paulo Costa in Search of a Win
For both Costa and Usman, a win in their next fight is crucial. Usman has now lost his last three bouts, including two losses to the UFC welterweight champion, Leon Edwards. ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ did show promise at the higher weight class however, giving Chimaev all he could handle despite taking the fight at the last minute.
For Costa, he sits in a similar boat. Costa sits at a 1-3 record in his last four, with his loan win against Luke Rockhold. While the record doesn’t look shiny or impressive, it is worth noting that Costa gave Whittaker a very tough fight.
Another Name on Costa’s Mind
While ‘Borrachina’ feels that Usman would be a great fight to get back in the win column, Costa also brought up another rival of his in Chimaev. The two were scheduled to fight at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi late last year, however Costa was forced out of the fight, which led to Usman’s middleweight debut. Despite withdrawing, Costa accused Chimaev of ducking him multiple times.
“[Chimaev] needs to stop running,” Costa told Submission Radio. “He needs to have the balls to face me. Yes, for a long time, long time, this guy just avoided this fight. He has no balls. If the guys don’t push him, he has no balls to fight me… He wants to fight easy fights. He wants to fight guys, you know, he [doesn’t] want to fight guys like me, Whittaker, or somebody else like that. He wants to fight guys with no wrestling, no jiu-jitsu game, no grappling.”
While both fights for Costa would be incredibly crucial for him to climb back into title contention, it’s tough to say which is a more viable option. Will Usman decide to make the full-time jump to middleweight? On the other hand, reports detailing Chimaev’s ban from fighting in the United States definitely makes that fight even harder to make.
Who do you think Costa should face next? Let us know in the comments!
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
