After 18 months on the sidelines, Paulo Costa returned to action at UFC 298 earlier this month, ultimately coming up short against former Middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker, via unanimous decision.
But the hulking Brazilian isn’t sulking one bit and is already looking ahead to his next challenge inside the Octagon with a name in mind. During a recent interview with Submission Radio, Costa took the opportunity to call for a fight against former Welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman.
“He comes from loss as well. I come from loss. So, yes, me and him need to put a win in the records. I think he did already everything that he showed to do in welterweight. So, I think it’s time,” he added before saying perhaps cutting down to 170 pounds at his age likely isn’t the easiest of things for Usman to do.
“He’s not so young as well. He’s like 37, 36. I don’t know, something around that. So, I think it’s time for him to move to middleweight. He did once against Chimaev, you know, Gourmet Chechen. But was nothing there in the whole process. Like, he get just got a short notice and came up to middleweight weighing welterweight.
“So, I think this fight makes sense, and he’s kind of a powerful guy. Yeah, he has different skills on the ground, wrestling skills, takedowns and striking. I think it’s a fight to make, you know, and to put one of us in the line again at the top.”
Usman — who is currently on a three-fight skid — did take a last-minute fight against Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294 after Costa withdrew from the fight. Despite a notice of just 10 days, “The Nigerian Nightmare” gave “Borz” all he could handle, ultimately losing a majority decision.
Speaking of Chimaev, despite Costa being the one who withdrew from their scheduled showdown in Abu Dhabi in Oct. 2023, he scolded the Chechen for ducking him on multiple occasions.
“He needs to stop to running. He needs to have balls to face me. Yes, for a long time, long time, this guy just avoided this fight. He has no balls. If the guys don’t push him, he has no balls to fight me.
“He wants to fight easy fights, he wants to fight guys, you know, he don’t want to fight guys like me, Whitaker, or somebody else like that. He wants to fight guys with no wrestling, no jiu-jitsu game, no grappling. You know, something like that.”
Anyone feeling a Costa-Usman showdown? Or is it time to re-visit the Chimaev booking?
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
