At UFC 284 in Australia on February 11th, Paulo Costa (14-2) will be taking on former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker (24-6). Whittaker will have hometown support as he looks to hand Costa his third loss in his last four fights.
There’s a lot on the line for Paulo Costa when he fights in February. At one point, Costa was looked at as a guy who could dethrone Israel Adesanya to become middleweight champion. However, he was then completely dominated by the champion when they fought.
After that, he had contract issues with the UFC and then lost to Marvin Vettori. He did bounce back well with a win over Luke Rockhold in August, but his issues with the promotion have stayed around. In fact, Costa took to Twitter to state once again that his contract will be up soon. He also stated that his eyes are on a new sport.
Costa switching from UFC to Boxing?
Costa’s contract will be up after he faces off against Robert Whittaker in February. Now, I don’t think the UFC will just let Costa walk especially if he wins. They will try to work out a deal to keep him around because he’s still a top ten guy in the world at 185 pounds.
That being said, the writing on the wall seems pretty clear. Costa looks like he’s ready to move to boxing. While he hasn’t come out and said it recently, I think Costa has his eyes on a future matchup with Jake Paul who just defeated Anderson Silva.
While not confirmed, the expectation is that Paul will box Nathan Diaz sometime next year. If Paul can beat Diaz, I could see Costa being the next opponent for him. Costa and Paul would be able to weigh the same and Costa would bring the most power that Paul has ever faced. Could be very intriguing and I wouldn’t doubt that we see it.