Robert Whittaker vs Paulo Costa is officially off after the Brazilian fighter confirmed that he has still not signed the contract to fight the former Middleweight Champion in Australia at UFC 284. The news was later confirmed by Robert Whittaker who expressed his frustrations over the cancellation.
The reason behind Paulo Costa not wanting to fight Robert Whittaker was plain and simple. The Brazilian fighter wanted more money than he was being offered to fight Whittaker. Now, in a recent conversation with Ariel Helwani of the MMA Hour, Borrachinha revealed exactly how much he wants to fight the UFC Middleweight.
Great fights is going down due to lack of negotiation skills, they should stop being petty 👍🥤 pic.twitter.com/uAfFLnTOdN
— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) December 19, 2022
Costa also shed the details of his current contract to fight Robert Whittaker. “70 for 70 ($70,000 to show and $70,000 to win), it’s not more than that.” He said. “The people from Australia will be there. It’s a great fight, 700 is not enough for that.” He further added he is looking at $500,000 as fair compensation to fight Robert Whittaker.
Costa also alleged that the UFC used Robert Whittaker to sell tickets for UFC 284, set to go down in Whittaker’s backyard. UFC Perth (UFC 284) will feature Islam Makhachev vs Alexander Volkanovski in the main event.
Paulo Costa is still under his old UFC contract that he signed in 2017
Paulo Costa is on his last fight in the current UFC contract. In the past, Costa also revealed that he fought Marvin Vettori for show money of $35,000. Needless to say, that’s quite a disappointing number considering Costa is one of the most popular names in the world of mixed martial arts and has made a name for himself both inside and outside of the cage.
“I will not fight him for the same money from five years ago, I got $35,000 to fight Marvin Vettori, he was #1 at that time. $30,000 is bulls*it money; I did a lot of that for the UFC, and I fought Yoel Romero on the same terms. I fought Adesanya, I fought Marvin, and I fought Luke Rockhold under the same terms just to finish that hell contract because I want to be free from that mistake that I did with my old manager five years ago.” Costa said.
Status Update #UFC284 #UFCPerth @ufc @UFC_AUSNZ pic.twitter.com/dPl4q2S8nj
— Robert Whittaker (@robwhittakermma) December 19, 2022
Earlier, Robert Whittaker had revealed that the UFC offered a new contract to Paulo Costa, however, the Brazilian fighter still decided to withdraw from the fight, While there’s no confirmation regarding the same, according to Costa, he is not being offered the right money to take the fight. Needless to say, it certainly amusing to know that he did not even earn $50,000 for his fight against Israel Adesanya and Yoel Romero.