A middleweight fight between Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa has been targeted to headline UFC Fight Night 190 on April 17th at a destination still to be confirmed.
Since losing the middleweight title to Israel Adesanya in 2019, Whittaker has regrouped and managed to put together back-to-back victories inside the Octagon.
First off he earned a unanimous decision victory over Darren Till after taking some time out from the sport, and he’s since picked up another win on the scorecards against Jared Cannonier back in October.
As such, Whittaker has retained the No.1 contender spot in the 185lb division and also holds down the No.12 spot on the UFC’s overall pound-for-pound rankings.
Meanwhile, Costa hasn’t fought since he too was defeated by Israel Adesanya back in September of last year, being TKO’d in the second round.
It was an underwhelming performance from the Brazilian star, who had gone into the fight with a perfect 13-0 record, including delivering TKO finishes in four of his UFC fights up until his title opportunity.
Nevertheless, Costa is still positioned at No.2 on the middleweight rankings and so this fight certainly makes a lot of sense and could establish who will get the next shot at title contention once Adesanya has returned from his superfight with light-heavyweight champion Yan Blachowicz.
Whittaker vs. Costa would front a UFC Fight Night 190 card that currently only has one other bout attached to it, with Gerald Meerschaert fighting Bartosz Fabinski.
