Dana White has no sympathy for Paulo Costa as the enigmatic light heavyweight tries to fight out his UFC contract and become a free agent.
Costa has one match left on his current contract and wants to make it happen. But he is too not willing to accept a five-round fight because it doesn’t cost more than a three-round fight. As a result, Costa made several statements on X (formerly Twitter) accusing UFC matchmakers of unfairness.
“Okay, I’ll make it public and clear,” Costa wrote on Sunday. “I have 1 fight left. My contract says the Purse is 3 rounds, not 5. I’m asking for a 3-round fight that was already in the contract. It could be anyone on the UFC LHW roaster.”
“I think Hunter has 3 options right now: A) Give me this last 3 round fight (I’ll take any opponent). B) Give me a 5 round fight at LHW in 6 weeks against anyone. I’ll take it BUT raise my purse accordingly. That’s the minimum that’s fair, right? C) Release me now. Clear and clean, I hope.
In fact, Hunter Campbell has a fourth option: continue to offer Costa fights, which he turns down, allowing the UFC to pay his contract and extend it indefinitely. UFC CEO Dana White phrased it a lot more friendly to his interests, but basically said the same thing.
“What the hell does this event mean? He’s been offered fights and he’s turned them down,” White said after the latest Contender Series event. “We don’t just say, ‘Kk Paulo Costa and you’re not going to fight.’ No, we won’t pay you. No, we don’t. Boys are regularly offered three fights a year.
“Even guys who don’t fight. For example, Tom Aspinall’s eyes are messed up. He’s being offered fights. You think Paulo Costa isn’t being offered fights?”
That last part is telling: even Tom Aspinall is offered fights, even though he’s injured. It’s not because the UFC makes sure everyone gets a fair amount of fights a year. That’s because every time a fighter turns down a fight, it’s theirs the contract is extended by several months. The UFC offered Francis Ngannou fights on the dates he was in Cameroon renewing his visa, fights they knew he couldn’t accept, but allowed them to extend his contract. leave him aside.
Since then a disastrous payout in an antitrust case, The UFC has gotten a lot better at not going into crazy ratf-k mode every time a fighter on their roster tries to enter free agency. But when it comes to the bigger names trying to leave organization, there can still be a lot of friction, as you see with Paulo Costa. If Paulo doesn’t want to just take what he can get, he could be inactive on the UFC roster for a long time.
