Top-ranked Light Heavyweight contender Paulo Costa is not happy with the UFC.
The Brazilian fan favorite should be in a good place right now. He’s riding consecutive wins for the first time this decade, having beaten up Roman Kopylov in a return to vintage “Borrachinha” form last year before suddenly jumping up to 205 pounds to take on the (formerly) undefeated Azamat Murzakanov. In arguably a career-best performance, Costa battered the would-be title contender en route to a third-round head kick.
As a result, Costa earned a spot in the Light Heavyweight Top Five right away.
Costa should be an injection of life into a stagnant division. Unfortunately, contract negotiations have stalled out and left him on the sidelines. Costa wants a standard three-round UFC fight, and he’s open to fighting at any weight class. Per Costa, however, the UFC continually offers him interim title fights and/or five round main events … for no additional money.
Costa only has one fight left on his UFC contract.
Currently, Costa remains unbooked, giving him plenty of time to offer his very critical thoughts on social media. Over the weekend, Costa tweeted and deleted the following rant aimed at UFC’s current lack of direction.
“The UFC seems lost,” Costa wrote on X before later deleting the post. “Lacking focus and direction. Fight cards are cobbled together from whatever is left over, and Dana White mixes up fighters’ names; he appears more focused on boxing and his rivalry with Eddie Hearn than on the company he built. Volkov should be fighting for the Heavyweight title; great matchups aren’t happening due to sheer incompetence. After all, empires often crumble from within.”
Love him or hate him, Costa makes several accurate points here. There are strong rumors, for example, that the recent BMF title fight announcement for UFC 335 between Charles Oliveira vs. Diego Lopes only came together after the promotion failed to book Costa vs. Navajo Stirling. Meanwhile, White did utterly fail to remember any details about UFC 332 headliner Wang Cong last week, spending far more time discussing the issue of his will he, won’t he promotion of Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua.
