Paulo Costa broke weeks of silence on Monday, October 12, posting on X that he had heard “nothing from the UFC” and planned to fight before the end of the year, inside the promotion or out.
A blunt message
Costa’s post was short. “Nothing from the UFC,” he wrote, before adding: “I’m going to fight at an event at the end of the year. I’m in great shape and in my prime.” The Brazilian, who carries a 16-4 record at light heavyweight (205 pounds, 93 kilograms), named no promotion, opponent or date. The post confirmed what had been building for months: no firm offer has reached him despite repeated requests to the organization.
A dispute over the terms of his final bout
The standoff centers on the last fight left on his UFC contract. Costa objects to being asked to take a five-round bout with no extra pay for a fight with no title attached. He wants either a standard three-round fight against a ranked light heavyweight, or a five-rounder with reasonable notice and a raised purse. Failing that, he wants the UFC to release him from the final fight so he can negotiate elsewhere.
The friction was already visible earlier this year. After his technical knockout of Azamat Murzakanov at UFC 327 in April, Costa said he was upset about missing out on the $100,000 Performance of the Night bonus tied to that card, and he raised the issue directly with Dana White. He sees these repeated disputes over pay and scheduling as holding up the end of his contract without any sporting justification.
Turning down Abu Dhabi in July
The friction goes back further than October. In July, the UFC asked Costa to step in for an injured Khalil Rountree Jr. in the main event against Magomed Ankalaev in Abu Dhabi. Costa turned it down, citing less than 14 days’ notice, a long-haul flight and a five-round fight with no interim belt on the line. “I want to fight, I don’t want to wait,” he told The Ariel Helwani Show at the time, while criticizing how the UFC negotiates with its roster, which he says pushes good talent away.
The promotion ultimately gave that slot to Bogdan Guskov, who had originally been booked for a rematch with Jan Błachowicz. Ankalaev himself left the door open to meeting Costa this fall, once his own fight with Guskov was behind him, a matchup that has not materialized so far.
Dana White pushes back
UFC CEO Dana White addressed the criticism in late September, at his post-fight press conference following a Dana White’s Contender Series card. White disputed Costa’s account, saying the Brazilian had been offered fights and turned them down. He said the UFC keeps offering bouts to its fighters, injured ones included, pointing to Tom Aspinall as an example of someone who has stayed engaged in talks despite his own physical setbacks. White’s framing puts the blame for the delay back on Costa, directly contradicting the fighter’s own account that no offer has come his way at all.
White added that more light heavyweight fights would be announced before the end of the year, tied to the recovery of champion Carlos Ulberg, who remains out with no interim title fight on the books. He gave no timeline for a possible Costa return to the Octagon.
Costa remains under UFC contract for now. He arrives on a run of good form, with that win over Murzakanov and a decision over Roman Kopylov, the kind of résumé he is using to push for a meaningful fight rather than a routine contractual send-off. Nothing in White’s comments ruled out a release outright, and nothing in Costa’s post ruled out a return to the UFC either; both sides have simply restated positions they have held for months.
The light heavyweight division, meanwhile, is still waiting to learn when its champion can return to the Octagon and against whom, a question that affects how soon a fight for Costa, inside the UFC or not, can actually get made. American fans who follow the promotion on Paramount+ can track upcoming cards on the UFC schedule and the UFC rankings.
