After no. 2 ranked middleweight contender Paulo Costa pulled out of his main event against Jared Cannonier scheduled to take place in August, Costa took to Twitter not long after to voice his displeasures with his pay on Twitter.
Costa said he needs to be paid more than his current base pay and also said he never signed a contract for the five round main event that is set to take place Aug. 21.
UFC needs to pay me as main fighter to have fighting in main events.
— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) June 5, 2021
Youtubers are showing all disgrace on this business.
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
Less than 350k is joke
— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) June 5, 2021
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UFC president Dana White responded to Costa’s withdrawal and disputed his claim that he never signed a contract for the fight in an interview with TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter.
“I don’t think that’s true. I think he did sign, because we extended him. We extended his contract for turning down the fight. But listen, don’t fight. I have to offer you three fights a year. This is my situation with all these guys. I offer you three fights a year, he doesn’t have to fight. No problem, don’t fight.
“Guess what? You should have started a YouTube channel when you were f—–g 13 years old, and built your name up and everything else and you could have had the fight on [Sunday] night. But you didn’t. You’re not a YouTuber, you’re a fighter, and this is what you do for a living. Or you don’t. It’s up to you, and you’re in no position to be talking about crazy money after your last performance, okay? So you either want to fight or you don’t want to fight. No problem.”
This is the second time this year Costa has pulled out of a main event this year. He has not fought since his second round TKO loss when he challenged Israel Adesanya for the UFC middleweight championship at UFC 253.
Dana White responds to Paulo Costa’s withdrawal and issue with pay: “You should have started a YouTube channel when you were f—–g 13 years old”
