One of the UFC‘s top middleweights is close to signing a new contract. Portal do Vale Tudo reported yesterday that former title challenger Paulo Costa (14-2) is close to signing a new five-fight deal with the promotion and is looking at a couple of top guys for his next fight.
Worth noting that the contract has not been signed yet, but the two sides are very close to a new deal. Costa and the UFC have been at odds for a while now dating back to Costa’s first fight after his title loss. Costa expressed his desire to make more money.
Dana White publicly stated that Costa wasn’t in a position to ask for more money after his performance against Adesanya. Since those remarks, Costa has returned to the octagon twice, most recently against Luke Rockhold last year in Salt Lake City.
There were agreements in place to have Costa fight Robert Whittaker in Australia earlier this year. However, contract talks with Costa broke down and the fight fell through. Now, it appears that the sides have resolved their differences.
Costa’s New UFC Deal
In his interview with Portal do Vale Tudo, Costa said that there are two guys he wants to fight. He said that he is looking at fights with Sean Strickland and Khamzat Chimaev. According to Costa, the UFC is very interested in having him fight Khamzat Chimaev.
Dana White said over the weekend that Chimaev would fight next in the middleweight division sometime around October. My guess is that he’ll be on the UFC 294 card that is currently scheduled to take place on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.
Costa would be the perfect opponent, but Robert Whittaker’s name has also been mentioned. If Costa wants to fight sooner than that, Sean Strickland makes the most sense for a summertime fight. Either way, it’s nice to see that Costa is going to remain with the UFC.