Midnight Mania! Paulo Costa turns down new deal: ‘1 fight to get free from UFC’

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

It’s no secret that Paulo Costa is looking beyond his current UFC contract.

The Brazilian has not kept quiet about his pay complaints. Despite rising through the ranks and becoming one of his division’s top contenders and bigger draws, Costa remains on an old contract, meaning his fight purses haven’t risen all that much. As a result, he’s eyeing transitions to boxing or hopping to another promotion when his contract expires.

Currently, Costa has just a single fight left on his UFC contract. He’s scheduled to face former champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 284 in Australia, and then, his future is up in the air. For fans hoping for a change of face that sees Costa stick around the Octagon … things are not looking great.

“Just 1 fight to get free from UFC contract,” Costa tweeted. “So I politely declined. They offer a 6-fight deal, but I’m not interested in a multi-fight deal.”

Seeing as multi-fight contracts are pretty much all UFC is ever willing to offer, it appears that Costa’s UFC career will come to a close in Australia unless one side is willing to budge. Alternatively, World Series of Fighting (WSOF) veteran Saul Almeida did offer up an interesting second option for “Borrachinha.”

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