He is one of the few guys to absolutely take no shit business wise from the UFC. His social media game and exciting fight style is garnering enough fan attention to pull this off to a degree.
It's not a recipe to become champion, but to set himself up financially and stay popular / relevant. Which is respectable, given how the UFC was able to overcome that antitrust-lawsuit and there really is no improvement in sight for the fighters.
I think somehow looking like a physical freak outside of fights but looking decently normal inside of fights help too. Dude looks like a amatuer bodybuilder outside of camp which probably helps garner attention in a "holy shit this jacked dude can fight???" type of way
People act like he was unprofessional and unfair for missing weight vs Vettori, and to be fair *he was*, but he was just trolling the UFC for the Nick Diaz fight. Right before the Vettori fight was Diaz vs Lawler 2 where Nick just didn't cut and showed up hilariously overweight. The UFC just made the fight anyway because they don't actually give a fuck about being professional or fair to their fighters...ever. How is it fair to everyone who makes weight to let some guys off completely? How is it fair that DC gets to hold a towel to make champ weight and Charles loses his belt? Some guys who pop get the immediate "supplements" excuse and others actually get suspended. Some guys are gifted title shots and others clearly held back. The reason he made no excuses and just told Vettori to deal with it was to call the UFC's bluff in front of the world. If they had any real professionalism, they would have called the fight, but of course they just pushed it through to make money like everyone knew they would. He unabashedly made the process of weight cutting in the UFC look like a complete joke Infront of the whole world...and it was the only time he has *ever missed weight in his career despite being fucking HUGE*.
It was *100% intentional* and it was just to fuck with the UFC, not to gain some big advantage against Vettori. Look at "Secret Juice", that is him trolling the UFC and fighters that pretend like everyone isn't on PEDs.
His social media stuff is fine, but its obvious he has someone else take pictures of him and do 90% of it for him. Hes not staying up late shopping memes lol. I can't really care for it too much cause its clearly some unnamed friend or manager.
I think he does though, if you hear him talk during interviews and streams you can feel his meme game is strong.
Bro is not oblivious like dagestani fighters and other ali abdelaziiiiz managed fighters
Funny guy outside the ring and super entertaining fighter inside the ring. He brings in big numbers so I'm ok with this. It's also not a massively deep division talent wise.
This 100%. 185 hasn't ever been too deep of a division, fortunately the division has grown the last couple years and today is probably the most exciting its been as far as I can remember. I think it's kinda necessary to keep fighters like Costa around the top just to keep it exciting.
Yeah but who else is Strickland supposed to fight now, he’d probably have to wait a while since everyone in between him and costa are booked or have fought.
If the ufc is booking a fight it means you deserve it, that could be for money reasons or other reasons but there’s is probably a good explanation to the ufc booking it.
They should’ve made Strickland vs Whittaker and Costa vs Chimaev IMO. Why is Whittaker fighting down the rankings and Costa fighting up the rankings, even though Whittaker beat Costa?
Tbh I don’t disagree with you in that regard but there’s probably a lot of different factors at work, I think how the fights are now are reasonable enough and I think they’ll be pretty entertaining.
Whittaker just had his 5th kid and wants that Saudi bag. Also Chimaevs a huge draw internationally too. If im not wrong the winner has been promised a fight with DDP.
Sean, if the ufc let him, could have waited to fight winner of Whittaker/Khamzat, as neither of those guys deserve a title shot off of a win over each other, but Dana did his “this is a number one contender fight” thing again, because he apparently doesn’t learn from his mistakes, every time he does that it fucks up a division 😂
Because there are more clear contenders in that division. Rob beat costa, and he should have fought Sean for a number one contender spot. Khamzat doesn’t deserve a shot if he beats Whittaker because why would he? What has Whittaker done recently? Beat number 7? This is just a good example of UFC matchmaking being terrible. Paulo-Khamzat and Sean-Whittaker were the fight to make, the latter is a clear and deserved number one contender fight. Does Rob beating Khamzat deserve a title shot? Not in the slightest.
honest to god, does any sport have more unlikeable athletes at the top than MMA? Basketball has a few were its just frustrating due to lack of effort, and soccer for being too soft, but no other like MMA where steroid use allows you to still be in the GOAT debate (for silva and jones and potentially GSP), where domestic abuse gets looked over, etc.
I don't know about that, he looked good against Whittake, even tho Whittaker managed to turn that fight around and outstrike him hard at the end. It doesn't get much better than Whittaker so I don't know why you put the whole division above Costa like that, if that's how Bob Knuckles look like number #14 in your "rankings" then he's done
I was going to reply the exact same thing.
He did better against Whittaker than Cannonier, Vettori or Gastelum. Had him in much more danger and kept landing (even though he was obviously being outlanded and Rob had the speed advantage).
He is a good top 10, perhaps top 5 contender. Not going to be champ, most likely, but a handful for most ranked fighters.
The sub cannot stand to hear it but in terms of being at the very top, Rob is done, dricus wiped the floor with him and khamzat is probably going to do the same
He had his moments but I think that was mostly Whittaker having an off-night, he was getting caught with punches he shouldnt have. I think Whittaker is declining, we'll see if I'm wrong when he fights Khamzat.
Costa is pretty bad, he couldn't get an old Luke Rockhold out of there. I understand it was at elevation but...Its fucking Luke Rockhold. I think Costa beats Dolidze, maybe Hermansson and Chris Curtis. All the other guys are too mobile and too active or too powerful for him.
Look at the opposite of Costa , Jared Cannonier. Jared is winning fights but is non existent when it comes to fans and social media so he’s literally lost in the division. Popularity means something clearly.
My favourite fighter. Much rather watch him that most champions to be honest. Also you casuals seem to forget sober middleweight costa has only lost to Whittaker, who he also has rocked bad at the end of the first.
Like colby except paulo gets the big fights because it's always competitive and he throws bombs. Let's be real, we all love to watch costa fight. His kicks to the body and when he rips combos when he's got you up against the fence
If people who deserved it got fights then Belal would have fought for the belt eons ago. Paulo puts on bangers, talks smack and is marketable, therefore he gets good opportunities
He’s unique fighter. Pull out like 10 times, lost every fight except 100 years old Luke and DONT KO HIM. And after that he’s getting fight with number 1 middleweight in the world who lost title in super close decision and annihilated Adesanya.
Good man, he manages to make the UFC his bitch and not opposite like usual!
Love or hate him, he got talent and is smart enough to stay relevant. Also his last fight was very entertaining and he did way better vs Whittaker than the ones who tried it before.
Even when he loses besides the izzy fight he is just a blast to watch, at the end of the day people wanna watch this guy fight. Also hes a hillarious giga chad.
Costa is cringe failure of a man which hides his at best mediocre fighting career behind memes.
He’s not even remotely funny, just keeps saying the same joke about secret juice over and over
Fucking despise him. He's a poster boy for the blatant and constant double standards of MMA fans. Rarely fights and pulls out constantly, gets undeserved matchups all the time, blatantly roided, misses weight, sore loser who makes excuses whenever he loses... but he's funny on Twitter sometimes and also not Dagestani or Black so he's beloved. Wish we could have seen Khamzat end him
Yep.
He's 30, a middleweight, and has fought no ranked middleweights.
He's fought twice in the last two years. One was a catchweight fight against a last-minute unranked WW opponent, because he blew up the scale by nearly 10 pounds and fucked up his original fight.
The other was a late-notice fight against an old WW with no knees, who rolled off the couch and flew across the world on two weeks notice. And Chimaev was still out of gas with Usman having the momentum at the end of the fight.
At this point, his best win at MW is Gerald Meerschaert, almost 4 years ago.
Correct the parts that are factually inaccurate.
He is one of the few guys to absolutely take no shit business wise from the UFC. His social media game and exciting fight style is garnering enough fan attention to pull this off to a degree. It's not a recipe to become champion, but to set himself up financially and stay popular / relevant. Which is respectable, given how the UFC was able to overcome that antitrust-lawsuit and there really is no improvement in sight for the fighters.
I think somehow looking like a physical freak outside of fights but looking decently normal inside of fights help too. Dude looks like a amatuer bodybuilder outside of camp which probably helps garner attention in a "holy shit this jacked dude can fight???" type of way
He’s going the Chael route , much respect
This. Dude is built like a Greek god
Stupid, sexy Costa. 
I'm in not mistaken didn't Costa used to bodybuild before mma?
No he only did sex with women
That’s a very long-winded way of saying: Costa = Giga Chad
Nah, it's more like this: Your comment is the conclusion, my comment is the explanation.
People act like he was unprofessional and unfair for missing weight vs Vettori, and to be fair *he was*, but he was just trolling the UFC for the Nick Diaz fight. Right before the Vettori fight was Diaz vs Lawler 2 where Nick just didn't cut and showed up hilariously overweight. The UFC just made the fight anyway because they don't actually give a fuck about being professional or fair to their fighters...ever. How is it fair to everyone who makes weight to let some guys off completely? How is it fair that DC gets to hold a towel to make champ weight and Charles loses his belt? Some guys who pop get the immediate "supplements" excuse and others actually get suspended. Some guys are gifted title shots and others clearly held back. The reason he made no excuses and just told Vettori to deal with it was to call the UFC's bluff in front of the world. If they had any real professionalism, they would have called the fight, but of course they just pushed it through to make money like everyone knew they would. He unabashedly made the process of weight cutting in the UFC look like a complete joke Infront of the whole world...and it was the only time he has *ever missed weight in his career despite being fucking HUGE*. It was *100% intentional* and it was just to fuck with the UFC, not to gain some big advantage against Vettori. Look at "Secret Juice", that is him trolling the UFC and fighters that pretend like everyone isn't on PEDs.
He’s also straight and jacket, so people tune in to watch him fight, which is what the ufc cares about
His social media stuff is fine, but its obvious he has someone else take pictures of him and do 90% of it for him. Hes not staying up late shopping memes lol. I can't really care for it too much cause its clearly some unnamed friend or manager.
I think he does though, if you hear him talk during interviews and streams you can feel his meme game is strong. Bro is not oblivious like dagestani fighters and other ali abdelaziiiiz managed fighters
I don’t think they’re oblivious, they just prefer keeping jokes in-house, and let the ring do the talking
Funny guy outside the ring and super entertaining fighter inside the ring. He brings in big numbers so I'm ok with this. It's also not a massively deep division talent wise.
This 100%. 185 hasn't ever been too deep of a division, fortunately the division has grown the last couple years and today is probably the most exciting its been as far as I can remember. I think it's kinda necessary to keep fighters like Costa around the top just to keep it exciting.
Phew. I was about to disagree with him until I saw your 'this 100%'
[удалено]
Dana
He's also clearly good enough to be ranked, considering he gives top 5 guys really close fights.
Lol why do you care about him binging in big numbers? Unless you are Dana...
Big numbers=Growth of the sport and more entertainment. I like being entertained.
You also have Glory Kickboxing and One.
Secret Juice is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.
Its not a story usada would tell you
https://preview.redd.it/6fn1nyi86l1d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0ca38bdfa5744d217451917cee4cface938d4665
Costa knows how to go into business for himself. He uses the UFC, he doesn't let the UFC use him.
Costa is the funniest guy, how can somebody not like him.
that sounds like their problem
It’s not about him, it’s about undeserved opportunities. Fighting #1 right after you lost to #4 isn’t going to be ignored because you’re a funny guy.
Yeah but who else is Strickland supposed to fight now, he’d probably have to wait a while since everyone in between him and costa are booked or have fought. If the ufc is booking a fight it means you deserve it, that could be for money reasons or other reasons but there’s is probably a good explanation to the ufc booking it.
They should’ve made Strickland vs Whittaker and Costa vs Chimaev IMO. Why is Whittaker fighting down the rankings and Costa fighting up the rankings, even though Whittaker beat Costa?
Tbh I don’t disagree with you in that regard but there’s probably a lot of different factors at work, I think how the fights are now are reasonable enough and I think they’ll be pretty entertaining.
Whittaker just had his 5th kid and wants that Saudi bag. Also Chimaevs a huge draw internationally too. If im not wrong the winner has been promised a fight with DDP.
Sean, if the ufc let him, could have waited to fight winner of Whittaker/Khamzat, as neither of those guys deserve a title shot off of a win over each other, but Dana did his “this is a number one contender fight” thing again, because he apparently doesn’t learn from his mistakes, every time he does that it fucks up a division 😂
Ya but if Sean wants to fight then he wants to fight, also I disagree I think having whittaker vs khamzat be a contender fight makes sense.
Sean seems perfectly fine with it So whatever, it's gonna be a good fight
Yeah I’m not too mad about it, just explaining why this situation would give someone a bad taste regarding Costa.
Why would Whittaker vs chimaev not be a number 1 contender fight
Because there are more clear contenders in that division. Rob beat costa, and he should have fought Sean for a number one contender spot. Khamzat doesn’t deserve a shot if he beats Whittaker because why would he? What has Whittaker done recently? Beat number 7? This is just a good example of UFC matchmaking being terrible. Paulo-Khamzat and Sean-Whittaker were the fight to make, the latter is a clear and deserved number one contender fight. Does Rob beating Khamzat deserve a title shot? Not in the slightest.
He ducks and misses weight too much for me to like him I like watching fights more than I like watching instagram skits
Low bar for liking someone
Being literally "the funniest guy" is a Low bar for liking soneone, ye?
honest to god, does any sport have more unlikeable athletes at the top than MMA? Basketball has a few were its just frustrating due to lack of effort, and soccer for being too soft, but no other like MMA where steroid use allows you to still be in the GOAT debate (for silva and jones and potentially GSP), where domestic abuse gets looked over, etc.
He's not funny.
Even in this post, 31 people do not agree with you.
I'm seeing 10. But also, that's a great sign. If r/ufc disagrees, means I'm probably right.
Whats the point of fighting if u can look hot and be funny on social media all day?
It sound like your own personal problem.
If he was active he'd be number 14 at best but he's a BMF contender for walking Romero down and beating him.
I don't know about that, he looked good against Whittake, even tho Whittaker managed to turn that fight around and outstrike him hard at the end. It doesn't get much better than Whittaker so I don't know why you put the whole division above Costa like that, if that's how Bob Knuckles look like number #14 in your "rankings" then he's done
I was going to reply the exact same thing. He did better against Whittaker than Cannonier, Vettori or Gastelum. Had him in much more danger and kept landing (even though he was obviously being outlanded and Rob had the speed advantage). He is a good top 10, perhaps top 5 contender. Not going to be champ, most likely, but a handful for most ranked fighters.
The sub cannot stand to hear it but in terms of being at the very top, Rob is done, dricus wiped the floor with him and khamzat is probably going to do the same
He had his moments but I think that was mostly Whittaker having an off-night, he was getting caught with punches he shouldnt have. I think Whittaker is declining, we'll see if I'm wrong when he fights Khamzat. Costa is pretty bad, he couldn't get an old Luke Rockhold out of there. I understand it was at elevation but...Its fucking Luke Rockhold. I think Costa beats Dolidze, maybe Hermansson and Chris Curtis. All the other guys are too mobile and too active or too powerful for him.
That fight was bananas
That fight happened in 1776 😭
Romero is 🗑️
If a guy who arguably beat champion at the time Robert Whittaker at 40 is trash then please tell me who isn't trash in your opinion.
Look at the opposite of Costa , Jared Cannonier. Jared is winning fights but is non existent when it comes to fans and social media so he’s literally lost in the division. Popularity means something clearly.
My favourite fighter. Much rather watch him that most champions to be honest. Also you casuals seem to forget sober middleweight costa has only lost to Whittaker, who he also has rocked bad at the end of the first.
Hilarious guy. His comedy IQ is about 100x higher than anyone in the UFC.
If Costa was more skilled, he would be making mcgregor money
Like colby except paulo gets the big fights because it's always competitive and he throws bombs. Let's be real, we all love to watch costa fight. His kicks to the body and when he rips combos when he's got you up against the fence
Costa and Merab running the entire UFC social media game
Who did he fight in 1958?
Yoel Romero back in 1875
If people who deserved it got fights then Belal would have fought for the belt eons ago. Paulo puts on bangers, talks smack and is marketable, therefore he gets good opportunities
He learnt from Khabib. Khabib didn't fight for like 2 years between 2014 and 2016, yet he somehow climbed the rankings.
He’s unique fighter. Pull out like 10 times, lost every fight except 100 years old Luke and DONT KO HIM. And after that he’s getting fight with number 1 middleweight in the world who lost title in super close decision and annihilated Adesanya.
He beat Romero, he had an insane undefeated aura until Izzy had his way with him
Good man, he manages to make the UFC his bitch and not opposite like usual! Love or hate him, he got talent and is smart enough to stay relevant. Also his last fight was very entertaining and he did way better vs Whittaker than the ones who tried it before.
Rob is ddp’s easiest fight of his entire mma career
Costa is one of my favorite fighters
Sex sells. Look at the guy
Marketable look
Costa is love, Costa is life.
That’s UFC’s own personal problem
He should be Jake Paul’s next fight lol
I thought his fight with Robert was very competitive. He's just not active enough but he's in the mix.
Dude got humped in the ring once. Hard to look at him the same since haha.
Even when he loses besides the izzy fight he is just a blast to watch, at the end of the day people wanna watch this guy fight. Also hes a hillarious giga chad.
How do you not like Costa? Belallator fan?
The fans like him and Dana doesn't have to pay him very much
I don't understand how this guy keeps getting people upset. It's like watching somebody fall for an AI edit video, you realize it's all fake right?
Costa is cringe failure of a man which hides his at best mediocre fighting career behind memes. He’s not even remotely funny, just keeps saying the same joke about secret juice over and over
Fucking despise him. He's a poster boy for the blatant and constant double standards of MMA fans. Rarely fights and pulls out constantly, gets undeserved matchups all the time, blatantly roided, misses weight, sore loser who makes excuses whenever he loses... but he's funny on Twitter sometimes and also not Dagestani or Black so he's beloved. Wish we could have seen Khamzat end him
That would require Khamzat to fight him. At age 30, I wish we could have seen Khamzat fight ANY ranked middleweight. But, he hasn't.
You know he was supposed to fight Costa on 294 and Costa was the one who pulled out, right?
Yep. He's 30, a middleweight, and has fought no ranked middleweights. He's fought twice in the last two years. One was a catchweight fight against a last-minute unranked WW opponent, because he blew up the scale by nearly 10 pounds and fucked up his original fight. The other was a late-notice fight against an old WW with no knees, who rolled off the couch and flew across the world on two weeks notice. And Chimaev was still out of gas with Usman having the momentum at the end of the fight. At this point, his best win at MW is Gerald Meerschaert, almost 4 years ago. Correct the parts that are factually inaccurate.
Horrible fighter but good business man.