Paulo Costa looks shredded ahead of his fight with Luke Rockhold.
Paulo Costa’s UFC career has been more interesting than most.
He stormed onto the scene after an appearance on The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3 in 2014. He won his first four UFC fights to catapult up the UFC middleweight rankings and earn a title shot against Israel Adesanya in 2020.
He was made to look average versus The Last Stylebender, losing by second round TKO. Costa would later blame his first pro loss on too much red wine. He spent over a year on the sidelines and returned to face Marvin Vettori last October.
Costa lost that fight by unanimous decision. The build-up to that fight was dominated by Costa’s inability (or unwillingness) to make weight. The bout eventually went ahead as a light heavyweight contest.
Since then Costa has been embroiled in controversy over allegations he struck and tried to force a nurse to fake a vaccine record for him in Brazil. Costa has denied those claims.
Costa is now booked to take on former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold at UFC 278 on August 20. And, according to his social media, it seems as though he’s in great shape to do so.
The fighter posted a set of images and video showing off a much leaner physique than we’ve seen lately.
This time I have nó injuries. I could surprised (even by me) beat my best weight until here. More muscles less fat . It’s just my prime time as I said . Unfortunately for all middleweight guys . God gave His grace and the knowledge to make something unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/iQay6jO1QF
— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) August 12, 2022
“This time I have no injuries,” he wrote on Twitter. “More muscles less fat. It’s just my prime time as I said. Unfortunately for all middleweight guys. God have His grace and the knowledge to make something unbelievable.”
Besides all the jokes and funny stuffs that I like a lot , the very hard work has been doing EVERY SINGLE F.u.k day here. I’m so proud all of it and feeling better than ever. It’s just my prime time. GOD IS GREAT! pic.twitter.com/0lvl9hZ3sM
— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) August 12, 2022
“It’s just my prime time,” repeated Costa in another post.
Costa vs. Rockhold was supposed to happen at UFC 277 last month. However, the bout was postponed due to an undisclosed reason.
UFC 278 is scheduled to be headlined by UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, defending against Leon Edwards. The main card also includes Jose Aldo vs. Merab Dvalishvili and Marcin Tybura vs. Alexander Romanov.