Everyone knew how dangerous Paulo Costa was heading into his fight with Yoel Romero at UFC 241 this past weekend.
After all, he had already notched up a perfect 12-0 record – 11 by T(KO) and one by submission, including four TKO victories since joining the UFC in 2017.
However, since those fights had gone so well Costa had not yet been able to prove how he would handle himself if times got tough in the Octagon, but that all changed on Saturday night as he engaged in a three-round ‘Fight Of The Night’ war with Romero.
“Many of you only now saw how tough I am, but I already knew,” Costa said. “I feel very happy. I showed the world how tough I am, and Romero is one of the best guys in the world. In my opinion, the best guy in the division after me, obviously. That’s it. That’s what I do at the gym everyday. Four rounds with four different guys. Me, with four different guys around me. Nothing is strange to me, I’m used to doing this.”
Now Costa is turning his aim on the rest of the division, and as far as he’s concerned he’s just defeated the best the weight class has to offer, so has no fear about what comes next.
“Both of them are looking at me in fear, because neither of them have a tough guy like me to face,” Costa said of title holder Robert Whittaker and interim champion Israel Adesanya. “I beat Romero, who was the top man in my opinion. If Adesanya wants to fight me, I can kill him, he’s too skinny. Adesanya talks too much sh-t about me. After my Uriah Hall fight, he called me out, saying I had dinosaur arms. Israel still has a lot to prove in the UFC, but Whittaker is a real champion. Of course I can beat them both. All I want is the belt, that’s my focus.”
