Middleweight Paulo Costa is upset at fans who don’t cheer for him due to political reasons.
UFC Middleweight contender Paulo Costa is not too happy about some of the Brazilian MMA fanbase.
As the country’s presidential elections approach, ‘Borrachinha’, a supporter of far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, does not like the way political reasons might make people not cheer for him in the Octagon.
In a conversation with Super Lutas’ YouTube channel, Costa expressed his discontent about the issue. The way Paulo puts it, he is allowed to make his political opinions public and is frustrated at the way Brazilian fans will not root for him even if Borrachinha performs well in the cage.
“I focus a lot on that over here, unfortunately. I love Brazil, I live in Brazil. I’ve had multiple opportunities to come live in the United States up to today. Brazilians like to involve fandoms in fighting. They involve politics in fighting.”
“I’m a person, I’m allowed to have political opinions.” Costa said. “No matter what I do, if a guy cheers for a different party. I may win by knockout, the more, the better. Still, it will never be good enough for them. It’s a crazy thing.”
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Bolsonaro campaigned against vaccination, social distancing, masking and locking down. In a recent scandal, Borrachinha was also accused of assaulting a nurse while trying to verify his vaccination card without getting the jab.
Most recently, Costa (14-2) defeated Luke Rockhold via unanimous decision, back at UFC 278. The victory snapped a two-fight skid for the 31-year-old, with losses to Marvin Vettori and Israel Adesanya.