Paulo Costa expresses frustration with UFC pay, says he never signed on to Jared Cannonier fight

Paulo Costa isn’t happy – and he’s fight-less.

While the exact reasoning for Kelvin Gastelum replacing him against Jared Cannonier in the UFC Fight Night headliner on Aug. 21, Costa (13-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) took to Twitter shortly after news of the change Friday to vent two frustrations.

The first gripe which Costa tweeted about was his pay. He claimed the UFC was not willing to pay him main event fighter money and pointed to the large paydays YouTubers Jake Paul and Logan Paul have pocketed from recent boxing matches.

“UFC needs to pay me as main (event) fighter to have (fought) in main events,” Costa wrote. “YouTubers are showing all disgrace on this business.”

Costa, 30, also took exception with what he stated was a premature fight announcement by the UFC. The promotion, Costa said, announced his fight vs. Cannonier (13-5 MMA, 6-5 UFC) before pen hit the paper.

Just to be clear. I never signed or locked up that contract. Why ufc announced this fight if didn’t signed? My question too

— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) June 5, 2021

Since his unsuccessful title challenge against Israel Adesanya at UFC 253 in September, Costa hasn’t returned to the cage. He was scheduled to fight April 17 vs. Robert Whittaker in the UFC on ESPN 22 main event but withdrew due to lingering symptoms from a battle with COVID-19. Like for the fight scheduled fight against Cannonier, Costa was replaced by Gastelum, who lost to Whittaker by unanimous decision.