Paulo Costa believes Logan Paul could have a bright future in MMA.
Earlier this week, famed YouTuber Logan Paul got to spar with top UFC middleweight contender Paulo Costa at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas. And, besides the very obviously staged knockdown, ‘Borrachinha’ says his sparring session with Paul went well and believes the 24-year-old could even have a future in MMA.
Speaking to reporters backstage at UFC Brasilia, Costa detailed his sparring session with Paul and said the YouTube giant surprised him with his boxing and wrestling.
“He’s very good, he surprised me,” Costa said of Paul. “He has good skills in boxing and very skilled in wrestling — he’s very good. I think he trained a lot of wrestling in college, and he’s very good — he surprised me a lot. Maybe he will make some MMA fights in the future.”
“I think MMA will be better for him [than boxing] because he has good wrestling fundamentals. His college, he comes from wrestling, so I think wrestling is his primary martial art.”
Paul did qualify for the OHSAA Division I wrestling circuit in high school but his wrestling never went any further than that. The Ohio-born talent fought YouTube rival KSI in a professional boxing match late last year, where KSI — real name Olajide Olayinka Williams — beat Paul via split decision after six hard-fought rounds of action at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
Following the fight, Paul called for an MMA bout with WWE star and former UFC hopeful CM Punk, but Punk stated he has no interest in the matchup.