Paulo Costa isn’t happy with the UFC over a fight offered to him. ‘Borrachinha’ was on Ariel Helwani’s show and was asked about Magomed Ankalaev’s next fight.
The former UFC light heavyweight champion was to face Khalil Rountree Jr. in a couple of weeks. However, Rountree was replaced by Bogdan Guskov, and Helwani was surprised that Costa didn’t get the call.
The Brazilian confirmed that he did get the call, but it was short notice for him:
“They called. They called yesterday.”
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He added that there was no financial incentive to take this fight too:
“But I think it’s so short notice. It’s less than 14 days to get a flight to Abu Dhabi. 16-hour fight to Abu Dhabi for five rounds, for the same money, not for interim belt, I don’t think this makes sense.”
Helwani asked if he thought about taking the fight. While Costa didn’t have major concerns about his weight, he didn’t want to take it up:
“I think about it, but it doesn’t make sense. My weight’s not bad, I am 234 [pounds] right now.”
He added:
“I need like seven weeks to eight weeks to make weight, properly. Different from when I fight for middleweight, I need 12 to 14 weeks, now I can get fight faster but to get this fight for such short notice doesn’t make sense. For five rounds, why?”
Costa also remarked that this was not an easy fight and labelled Ankalaev a very good fighter. The Brazilian has been critical of the UFC previously and believed the fight was offered because of this:
“That is a good question. I think so.”
When asked if this bothered him, he went on to say that this creates problems between the fighters and negotiators:
“A little bit because the way they handle the negotiations, I think it’s not the best way. I think they are pushing good talent away, you know?”
He added:
“This creates beef between the fighters and the guy who negotiate. I don’t think this is good.”
He also brought up Francis Ngannou. The former UFC heavyweight champion left the promotion after failing to reach terms on a new deal. Ngannou went on to box Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury before appearing on the MVP MMA card.
“Have seen this in the past, Francis [Ngannou] was one of the guys. They pushed so hard, they pushed so hard, they pushed him away. And they give him two big events, like MVP.”
Check out Paulo Costa’s comments below:
Edited by Saiyed Adeem Karim