Paulo Costa is looking to get straight back into title contention by taking on former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker who is fresh off another big win at UFC 254 this past weekend.
Costa suffered his first career loss at the hands of Israel Adesanya late last month. The Brazilian knockout artist was seen by many as a true test for ‘Stylebender’ who made his second defence of the 185lb title he took from Whittaker.
On the night Adesanya made it look easy, taking out Costa inside two rounds and adding to Costa’s shame with his post-fight celebrations. ‘Borrachinha’ has spent lots of time campaigning for a rematch with Adesanya post-fight but now seems to have abandoned that idea, switching his attention to ‘The Reaper’
Whittaker scored an impressive unanimous decision win over Jared Cannonier in Abu Dhabi on Saturday to cement his place as the number one contender middleweight contender. The Aussie got his second straight wins against ‘The Killa Gorilla’ after previously beating Englishman Darren Till on Yas Island earlier this year to bounce back from his crushing defeat to Adesanya in 2019.
UFC President Dana White seemed keen to see Whittaker rematch Adesanya after the Ultimate Fighter winner impressed in a second straight fight. However, Costa has other ideas and would like to face off against Whittaker before he gets another shot at ‘Stylebender’.
“Hey Robert Whittaker enjoy your end of year, you deserved. When you come back we can do amazing fight,” Costa wrote on social media.
Whittaker is due to take some well deserved time off from fighting as he prepares to welcome another child later this year. It appears when he does eventually return to the Octagon ‘The Reaper’ will have plenty of big-name opponents to choose from.
Would you prefer to see Robert Whittaker fight Paulo Costa or Israel Adesanya next?