Paulo Costa will not be fighting Jared Cannonier on August 21.
Paulo Costa will not be fighting Jared Cannonier at UFC on ESPN 26, but ‘Borrachinha’ claims he never signed a fight contract to begin with.
A disgruntled Costa took to Twitter in the early hours of Saturday morning where he put the UFC on blast for announcing the Cannonier fight and claims that ‘YouTubers’ are exposing issues with UFC fighter pay.
Although it’s not clear why Costa was removed from the card, it appears the Brazilian didn’t feel he was being fairly compensated.
UFC needs to pay me as main fighter to have fighting in main events.
Youtubers are showing all disgrace on this business.— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) June 5, 2021
“UFC needs to pay me as main fighter to have fighting in main events. Youtubers are showing all disgrace on this business.”
Just to be clear. I never signed or locked up that contract. Why ufc announced this fight if didn’t signed? My question too
— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) June 5, 2021
“Just to be clear. I never signed or locked up that contract. Why ufc announced this fight if didn’t signed? My question too.”
Jake Paul has repeatedly criticized Dana White and the UFC for not paying their fighters well, and for keeping the lion’s share of the revenue.
He and his brother Logan are making mega money in boxing despite only having five fights between them, as the YouTube stars have a combined 48 million subscribers and are two of the most popular social media personalities in the world. Logan Paul is set to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. in an exhibition bout on Sunday, while younger brother Jake will take on former UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley at a Showtime Sports event on August 28.
As for Costa, the No. 2-ranked middleweight hasn’t fought since Sept. 2020 when he suffered a TKO loss to Israel Adesanya in their title bout at UFC 253. Kelvin Gastelum has stepped in as his replacement and will take on Cannonier in the UFC on ESPN 26 main event on Aug. 21.