Is costa out? pic.twitter.com/ImSS63WcGj
— Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA)
May 15, 2024
Several UFC fighters have expressed concern about
“announced” matchups lately.
In April, the promotion
announced at the UFC 300 post-fight press conference that the
co-main attraction for the June 1 show in Newark, New Jersey, would
be a five-rounder between middleweights Sean
Strickland (28-6) and Paulo Costa
(14-3). Strickland posted on social
media on Wednesday expressing his concerns that the fight at
UFC 302 might be in jeopardy, or perhaps was never signed in
the first place.
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The former middleweight champ said,
“Well, g– d— Costa, I’ve heard you have yet to sign that
contract, and I’ll tell you what man, I didn’t f—ing believe it.
I did not think you’d be acting like a coward. I thought you would
man up, sack up, but instead, you’re acting like you got f—ing
ovaries.”
The antagonistic Strickland continued, “So I went onto Google, I
did the right thing, gave you the benefit of the doubt, I went on
to Google, and I noticed something, man. After you fought [Israel
Adesanya], you went downhill. You went off that f—ing deep
end, my man. I don’t know what happened in that little f—ing pea
brain you have. Do we need to get someone for you to talk to, my
man? Do we need to sit you down and have you talk about your
f—ing feelings? I think therapy is for weak men, but let me tell
you something, dude, you’re being a weak f—ing man. If you can’t
sack up and make this s— happen, we’ll get someone for you to
talk to. Don’t disappoint me. Don’t disappoint the fans. Let me
make you f—ing bleed.”
Costa has gone 1-2 since his loss against Adesanya, with his lone
victory a closely contested decision over Luke
Rockhold. In the meantime, “Borrachinha” has also gained
notoriety for pulling out of multiple bookings against Jared
Cannonier, Ikram
Aliskerov and Khamzat
Chimaev. In his most recent outing, the Brazilian fell short to
former champ Robert
Whittaker at
UFC 298 in February by decision.
Shortly after Strickland’s video post came out, Brazilian outlet
Super
Lutas conducted an interview with Costa’s wife and manager,
Tamara Alves, about the matchup. She insisted that the middleweight
pairing has been signed by both fighters, although noting that they
just received the contract.
“The contract arrived yesterday and was immediately signed,” Alves
guaranteed.
According to Alves, negotiations were a bit trickier than expected,
and Costa and the UFC finally came to terms. She also noted briefly
that Costa was already close to the weight limit of 186 pounds,
indicating that Costa had been preparing for the fight as if it was
already official.
“As manager, every fight offered I may get something better for my
athlete,” Alves stated. “We did a different negotiation to that
fight, and as soon as we came to an agreement, the contract was
sent and we signed it.”
The middleweight championship logjam—which still does not have an
official first defense on the books for the newly minted Dricus Du
Plessis—means there are plenty of options for the division in
the future. Alves had an idea of how she thinks the promotion will
play out the title picture, similar to UFC on Fox 4 in 2012 when
Mauricio
Rua and Lyoto
Machida competed in 205-pound tilts. She believes that the most
impressive victor among two major upcoming middleweight pairings
will get the next crack at gold.
“There are two options. The winner of Whittaker and Chimaev or the
winner of Costa vs. Strickland. I believe the fighters that show a
better performance will get the next title shot,” she
concluded.
Former beltholder Strickland is looking to bounce back from his
split decision loss against Dricus Du
Plessis at
UFC 297. If that fight falls through, the promotion has already
been offered a possible replacement option in Cannonier. “The Killa
Gorilla,” who already holds a 2022 win over Strickland via split
decision, is currently booked to headline
UFC Louisville against Nassourdine
Imavov in June.