Paulo Costa's Next Fight in The UFC
Paulo Costa's manager and girlfriend recently told a.g. Fight that they've signed a new 4-fight deal with the UFC and have been promised $1 million per fight. This puts an end to Costa's long feud with the UFC that saw him deny a fight vs. Robert Whittaker and demand a release from his contract.
Now that he's back in the UFC and looking to fight, let's take a look at the three most likely opponents for Paulo Costa's next fight:
Khamzat Chimaev
Paulo Costa and Khamzat Chimaev have both been part of some of the UFC's biggest weight scandals. Costa came into fight week extremely heavy against Marvin Vettori and forced the fight to be moved from Middleweight to Light Heavyweight, seemingly without remorse. Chimaev missed weight by over 7 lbs in his last fight, which was scheduled against Nate Diaz at UFC 279. The bout was scrapped, and he fought Kevin Holland instead. After the weight miss, Khamzat announced he was moving up to middleweight.
Chimaev holds a record of 12-0 (5-0 UFC) and is riding the momentum of wins over Li Jingliang, Gilbert Burns, and Kevin Holland. Fans wonder how he'll compete with the size of 185'ers, but he's already defeated top 10 Middleweight Jack Hermansson in a wrestling match, rag-dolling him to an 8-0 score.
These two have apast together and have plenty of bad blood between them. They first got into an altercation at the UFC Apex last year, and have been trying to fight each other since.
Dricus du Plessis
The #6 Middleweight in the world is Dricus du Plessis, hailing from the country of South Africa. His last fight took place at UFC 285 against Derek Brunson. It was an all-out war between the two that ended with one second left in round 2 after Brunson's corner threw in the towel, calling a halt to the fight and saving their fighter from damage.
du Plessis took to the microphone with Joe Rogan after and said he wanted a top 5 opponent next and didn't want to fight Costa as he believed he'd be ranked above him in the new ranking update. That didn't come to fruition, and Costa is now a potential top 5 opponent that fans would love to see him face.
Sean Strickland
Sean Strickland may be the only more polarizing character at 185 than Costa. While his unfiltered speech has gotten him banned from several platforms like Twitter and Instagram, it makes him a fan favorite. His trash talk is some of the most laughed at in MMA, and it's been used against fighters like Uriah Hall, Luke Rockhold, and even Israel Adesanya before his fight with Alex Pereira.
You don't have to be fighting him to be caught in his line of fire. He's gone after fighters like Pat Barry and Khalil Rountree Jr. unprovoked. Despite this, he's highly respected as a fighter and is always active and fighting the best. His last two fights came back-to-back in main events against Jared Cannonier to close out 2022 and Nassourdine Imavov to start 2023. He lost a narrow split decision to Cannonier but won a unanimous decision vs. Imavov.
What do you think of this "Paulo Costa next fight" article? Do you agree with the picks, and who do you think will be next? Let us know your prediction with a comment.
