Former undisputed middleweight title chaser, Paulo Costa has revealed he is targeting a return to action as soon as April — with the Brazilian heavily linked in recent weeks with a feature on the upcoming UFC 314 card in Miami, Florida.
Costa, the current number eleven ranked middleweight challenger, has yet to feature in the Octagon since he took on recent UFC 312 title challenger and ex-champion, Sean Strickland in a title eliminator last summer at UFC 302.
Enjoying a somewhat active period last annum, Belo Horizonte native, Paulo Costa fought twice last year, dropping a prior decision loss to another former middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker.
Without a victory since 2022, Costa’s most recent success came in the form of another hard-fought unanimous decision win over yet another ex-UFC champion in the form of Luke Rockhold — which saw him snap a run of two consecutive losses.
Paulo Costa confirms plans for April return to UFC
However, set to snap his lengthy hiatus from action in the coming months, Brazilian fan-favorite, Costa confirmed he is currently preparing for an April return to competition — amid links to a showdown at UFC 314 in ‘The Sunshine State’.
“I’m getting ready for my next fight,” Paulo Costa told Voyo Hrvatska during a recent interview. “It should happen in April, and I just started my training camp over here.
Paulo Costa says his next fight “should happen in April”
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) February 11, 2025
Paulo Costa says his next fight “should happen in April” 
During his unbeaten run in the promotion prior to a 2020 knockout loss to then-middleweight kingpin, Adesanya, Costa boasted an impressive 13-0 professional record, including wins over the likes of Johny Hendricks, Uriah Hall, and fellow perennial contender, Yoel Romero.
Vowing to put more pressure and output more activity in his return to action following his decision loss to Strickland last summer, Costa claimed he hoped a prior version of him which seen him rack up a slew of successive knockout victories could return.
“But let me tell you something, I agree with Dana [White] and Joe Rogan, and I will do that — I will bring back the Paulo that takes heads off, to finish the fight. Sorry. I’m not that kind of counter guy. I do better moving forward and trying to finish and look for heads. Sean is so awkward, so different kind of fighter to fight against, it’s difficult. He was teeping me, keep pushing me, keeping me far from him, because he knows the power that I have. And I have the power, so I need to deliver that — and I will do that,” Paulo Costa added.
“I won’t give a f—,” Paulo Costa declared. “F— points, or conserving energy, or f— anything about that. I will come to take heads off. And this is who I am, this is the kind of fighter I am, and the fighter who people expect that I perform. So I will do that. F— points, I’ve enough of this. Even the first round that I was 100 percent sure that I won, some people thought I lost. F— them. I will come to take heads off. That’s it. Who I am.”