‘Borrachinha’ Calls Bulls— On Blachowicz Fight Cancellation Claims

After an exciting last-minute matchup between Costa and Blachowicz failed to come together at UFC 288, both fighters are blaming each other for the fallout.

The back and forth between Paulo Costa and Jan Blachowicz over a potential May 6th showdown that failed to come together continues.

Costa and Blachowicz looked like they were going to scrap at UFC 288 as part of the promotion’s last minute effort to improve the card’s quality. In the end, Gilbert Burns vs. Belal Muhammad was added as the new co-main event. Blachowicz blamed Costa for turning down the fight. And now Costa is firing back at Blachowicz, saying it was the Polish powerhouse that ended up declining.

“Jan, he’s lying. I never turned down that fight,” Costa said on the latest episode of The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani. “Actually, in fact, he is who turned down the fight. Yes. I have always been negotiating that fight. For three days, three or four days, I was negotiating with UFC. I never turned down the fight. I was actually very happy for that fight.”

“So what happened is the UFC came up with this offer, they say ‘Paulo, we have a problem to May 6th, we need a replacement. We know it’s very short notice so we don’t want you do crazy stuff to make 185, so we suggest you fight at 205 against Jan Blachowicz.’ And I say ‘Woah, that’s a very good fight, I like that matchup.’”

“It’s a big opportunity, you know? I love the idea for three reasons: he beat all these guys already, I don’t need to cut a lot of weight to make 205 because I’m always trained, and it’s a good opportunity to make a lot of money as well because it’s short notice. So I accept the fight. But the UFC suggest me once I beat him, I don’t come back to 185. They said ‘once you beat Jan, you need to stay at 205 and hold your position, because Jan is No. 3. So you need to hold at 205.’”

“I told them ‘Guys, I have business to do, to finish at 185,’” Costa continued. “So I cannot go right now to 205. I can go now this fight to fight Jan, but I don’t like the idea of staying stuck at 205. To not be able to come back and fight at 185. I have business to do. I have Gourmet Chenchen [Khamzat Chimaev], UFC wants that fight. And after Chimaev, I want to finish the business with Adesanya.

“So this takes longer, three days back and forth negotiating that one. And then the UFC finally accepted, they say ‘Okay, you can fight 205 against Jan. Even if you beat him, you can come back and fight [Chimaev] in October.’ So then when UFC accept that, I went to Twitter and said ‘Okay, the fight is on. Me and UFC reach the terms and I think Jan accept as well so let’s do the fight May 6th.’ Then suddenly surprisingly Jan decline the fight. They say they don’t want anymore.

“‘I accept the fight three days ago, Paulo not, but now I decline.’ I was bad with that. I didn’t expect that from Jan, bro. But you know, it was short notice. So maybe he was not in good shape, maybe he was not training. Or maybe injury.”

Who do you think is responsible for this fight not coming together, Maniacs? Costa, for dragging negotiations on for days? Blachowicz, for refusing to accept the fight three days after it was initially offered to him? Or the UFC for not keeping both fighters properly in the loop? Let us know in the comments below.