Alessandro Costa didn’t have a great night at Noche UFC 3.
The Brazilian Flyweight was supposed to throw down opposite Edgar Chairez but instead faced a short-notice replacement in Alden Coria. As it turns out, Coria — a main training partner of top contender Joshua Van — is pretty dang sharp, and the two were really throwing down for most of two rounds. Costa wasn’t winning the fight, but it was competitive until something suddenly went wrong for “Nono” near the end of the second. It wasn’t clear
what injury he suffered, but Coria easily tee’d off on Costa and forced the TKO stoppage early in round three (watch here).
Well, we now have more context! Per MMA Junkie’s Danny Segura, Costa’s big toe was caught in the cage and ripped open in round two. In the video below (mirror here), Costa’s toe is being worked on by doctors after the event.
MMA is not the sport for those with sensitive toes. Famously, Jon Jones suffered a nasty dislocation while defending his Light Heavyweight belt versus Chael Sonnen, but he was able to stop Sonnen before the referees or doctors were aware of the injury. As for Costa, the injury and subsequent loss drops his UFC record to 2-2 overall, as he’s now alternated wins and losses in his four Octagon bouts.
