Paulo Costa is done fighting five rounds for the price of three.
The Brazilian powerhouse has one fight left on his UFC contract, and he wants to compete as soon as possible. But there’s a caveat: he only wants to fight a three round battle … unless the UFC is willing to sweeten the pot with more money or a title shot.
Costa has taken his battle with UFC matchmakers to the public square, tweeting his discontent with the offers he’s been getting from the promotion. When asked whether “Borrachina” would
fight soon, UFC CEO Dana White dismissively declared they’d been offering him fights, but Paulo kept turning them down.
“Yeah, I’ve been offered some GREAT opportunities,” Costa wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “5 rounds in Doha. 5 rounds in Abu Dhabi on 6 days’ notice. 5 rounds in Salt Lake City. And somehow, they’re all running the same promotion: PAY FOR 3, GET 5.”
“Amazing deals,” he concluded. “Hard to pass up.”
The sarcasm is clear: Costa feels like he’s being taken advantage of, and the days of being taken advantage of are over. We can appreciate a fighter taking a stand against what’s clearly a wild UFC loophole that allows them to offer five round fights without appropriate compensation for the extra potential 10 minutes of fighting. On the other hand, Costa did sign that contract, and he’s stuck under the current terms.
Costa has previously said the UFC can either book him for three rounds, pay him more, or release him. But they can also just keep offering him five round fights that he turns down, leaving him in contractual purgatory until someone blinks. And the UFC is happy to keep marching on without Paulo on their cards, while Costa is 35 and losing prime career time at a moment where the free market is hotter than it’ll ever be.
Who’ll blink first? We’re tempted to guess Costa, but this is a man who sat out for a year and a half in the past, returning with a purse of over a million dollars per fight. So here’s hoping he once again defies the odds and gets what he wants: either a three rounder, or proper pay for five.
