Middleweight contender Paulo Costa is unsure about his future in in the UFC. Although ‘Borrachinha’ is expected to take on former champion Robert Whittaker in February 2023, the Brazilian does not know whether or not he will stay in the fight, or within the promotion altogether.
In an interview with Ag Fight, Costa revealed he has not signed the contract to take on Whittaker yet. In fact, the Brazilian once again pointed out how he may not even renew his UFC contract if the company does not meet his terms. Although he would like to stay with the promotion, Borrachinha believes it’s up to them to make it happen.
“I haven’t renewed with the UFC. I had a talk with Hunter. He was supposed to get back to me. I asked him about a figure and he was supposed to give me an answer about it. I haven’t gotten an answer yet. Anything is possible. I have one fight left and I’m not very sure. I’ve got some lawyers looking at the contract, seeing how it works, because it can also be terminated over time. Maybe I don’t even need to fight to finish my contract,”
“We need to know how to take care of our stuff and the UFC contract is business,” Costa said. “I need to be aware of how it works so I don’t make a mistake, I need to make the most out of it. I have one fight left or the time clause. I believe that’s it, but I’m still talking to my lawyers. I’d really like if this Whittaker fight could happen, but it’s up to the UFC. There’s no contract yet, there’s nothing. I wish there was a contract up to par to the level of this fight.”
In his last outing, Costa (14-2) defeated former champion Luke Rockhold via unanimous decision, back in August. The victory snapped a two-fight losing streak for the 31-year-old, with losses to Marvin Vettori and Israel Adesanya, respectively in October 2021 and September 2020.
For now, Costa is still expected to take on Whittaker at UFC 284, in Perth, Australia, on February 12. The card is scheduled to be headlined by a superfight between the featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski and lightweight title-holder Islam Makhachev.
“We need to know how to take care of our stuff and the UFC contract is business,” Costa said. “I need to be aware of how it works so I don’t make a mistake, I need to make the most out of it. I have one fight left or the time clause. I believe that’s it, but I’m still talking to my lawyers. I’d really like if this Whittaker fight could happen, but it’s up to the UFC. There’s no contract yet, there’s nothing. I wish there was a contract up to par to the level of this fight.”
In his last outing, Costa (14-2) defeated former champion Luke Rockhold via unanimous decision, back in August. The victory snapped a two-fight losing streak for the 31-year-old, with losses to Marvin Vettori and Israel Adesanya, respectively in October 2021 and September 2020.
For now, Costa is still expected to take on Whittaker at UFC 284, in Perth, Australia, on February 12. The card is scheduled to be headlined by a superfight between the featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski and lightweight title-holder Islam Makhachev.
Since 2017 he’s 3-2. Only the Romero fight was really good. The Rockhold fight was embarrassing. Luke was gassed after the first 5 minutes and he still couldn’t finish him. Not sure why he thinks he deserves more lol
Because his pay IS shit. He might not be a huge draw but wow. His pay is bad. UFC and him can renegotiate or not, but why not at least ask for more?
The luke fight was awesome, fuck off with your Diaz ball licking self
Ugh. That fight was an embarrassment. Luke was gassed and had hands on his knees after just 5 minutes. And Paulo still couldn’t finish him which is crazy
If I would have been watching with a new fan trying to get them into MMA I would have apologized for that fight
As much as I wanted Rockhold to win that fight, Costa was never in any trouble
I felt he took it easy on Luke and just wanted to put on a show and have a bit of fun. He didn’t look like he took that fight seriously at all while Luke looked like he was fighting for his life.
He’s been fighting once a year since 2017 no wonder he’s struggling for cash, he seems like a n asshole to work with or book fights for I wouldn’t be surprised if ufc says to fight out that contract
God, it would fucking suck to make $55-60K in a loss at that high of a level.
If I made the same money I did 5 years ago, I would definitely move on to a different job.
that’s before taxes, food, coaches etc. he deserves more money.
I’m not saying the guy doesn’t deserve more money. He definitely does, he has put on some great fights in the UFC. But hear me out. He has one fight left on his contract. My way of thinking is, why doesn’t he just book the last fight on his contract, then renegotiate and try to get more?
Costa is an incredibly exciting fighter who is a mainstay in the top 5-10, which is not something most fighters can say for themselves. He’s a much bigger name than he was back in 2017, still young, and still has the potential to become a UFC champion.
If he renegotiates and doesn’t feel he is being treated fairly, he can go elsewhere and get paid more. Since 2018, he has fought exactly one time per year, for five years. I don’t know when he signed that contract but the reason he’s still getting the same pay is simply because he isn’t fighting that much. And I get being a fighter is hard.
He knew how many fights he had when he signed his original contract. If he had 2-3 more fights left in it, this would be a different conversation. I just think he may be wasting precious time right now. If that were me (I know, I’m not a fighter), I would just finish whatever was left on my contract then see if I can get something better. I don’t know how much his value is outside of MMA though.
Yeah that’s true.
Ironically it actually seemed like Costa felt bad for Luke, particularly in the third round.
Which is weird considering these two guys are the biggest meatheads in the sport.
We all pay taxes, food, housing, gym memberships…fighters aren’t the only ones with life expenses.
But his pay is pretty low for the standing they’ve given him.
Is he on a TUF contract? Did he win?
Nope
Luke is a former two promotion champion. Tuff as hell and even ducked up was hard to Finnish. Lots or respect for him.
Costa is cool as hell my buddy Joey spent a lot of time with him when he went to Columbia for stem cell therapy. Said he was dope and funny af.
65-65 is way to low for a guy that has fought for the title and they love showing him on all the media platforms because of the way he looks. They need to put a 1 in front of that 65 at the min at this point. Theirs getting a deal and then theirs making your promotion look too cheap and stingy. That’s not good either.
What’s the point of contracts if these guys want to renegotiate all the time?
Not a lot but the UFC made their own problem setting precedents.
I’ve only seen one other league where there are constant holdouts for renegotiations and more money mid-contract and that’s the NFL.
These also happen to be the two leagues where contracts are heavily favoured towards the league where athletes are stuck/bound by the contract but the league/team can terminate it whenever they feel like it.
I agree with your general sentiment, but they’ve also created a cut throat environment. If they would provide guaranteed contracts then there wouldn’t be acceptable grounds for renegotiation like this.
It’s slimey to offer longer-termed contracts with one sided power in the hands of the UFC. Deals should be capped at like 3 fights or something and guaranteed then you wouldn’t see this stuff so much. More job security, shorter time frame, more incentive to fight more frequently to fight out contracts and get new and better deals if you’ve improved etc.