“I feel sad for Robert,” Paulo Costa makes the bizarre announcement that he won’t fight Robert Whittaker, despite the UFC having officialized the bout

“I feel sad for Robert,” Paulo Costa makes the bizarre announcement that he won’t fight Robert Whittaker, despite the UFC having officialized the bout

Paulo Costa (L) and Robert Whittaker (R) [Image Source - Bloody Elbow (L) and Heavy.com (R)]

Its been five months since Paulo Costa stepped into the octagon, and it feels like fans will have to wait a little more before they can see him in action.

A month or so back, the UFC announced that UFC 284, which marks the return of the UFC down under, will host Paulo Costa vs Robert Whittaker as the co-main bout. Without it needing to be said, fans were extremely excited to see two top middleweights go at each other.

Bizarrely, now, Paulo Costa has come out any official announcement that the UFC might have put out. He wrote, “Guys sending me this, I feel sad for Robert because the UFC didn’t tell him the truth lol, you don’t deserve this.”

He further wrote, “Bro, sorry I won’t fight you in Perth UFC posting this (Robert vs Costa)just to sell tickets, you need to realize that.They didn’t pay me, I’m out!I’m not joking.” Fans are used to seeing “Borrachinha” use his social media primarily for humour, so this did take a little to settle in – if this is true, then it is a bad look for the UFC.

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Brett Okamoto corroborates Paulo Costa’s version of the story

Paulo Costa [Image Source - MMA Junkie]
Paulo Costa [Image Source – MMA Junkie]

Any fans who might have seen the tweet, must have done a double-take for sure! The UFC’s official announcement of a fight is as legitimate as a fight gets, but this is the first in memory that a fighter has denied the official announcement and poster.

Brett Okamoto, a respected MMA journalist also posted to his Twitter, corroborating Paulo Costa’s version of events. He wrote, “No troll job. Paulo Costa and Robert Whittaker will NOT fight at UFC 284 in February, per sources. More info coming to ESPN.”

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Paulo Costa and the UFC have been involved in contractual negotiations even before the former took on Luke Rockhold at UFC 278, earlier this year. It seems like the situation might get ugly, and hence, the UFC’s PR machine must clarify the situation for the fans.

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