Alessandro Costa will be sharing the historic card of UFC 295 alongside teammates Diego Lopes and Loopy Godinez.
This Saturday, Costa (13-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) returns to the octagon on the preliminary card of UFC 295, which celebrates the promotion’s 30th anniversary, to take on Stephen Erceg (10-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) in a flyweight bout. He’ll be the third Lobo Gym fighter competing at the event, something that fills Costa with joy.
“On top of this being a special event, I’ll also be fighting with my teammates Diego Lopes and Loopy Godinez,” Costa told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “For us, this is huge. This is super special to be fighting on a card like this and also to be able to have three athletes of the same team fighting on the same card and one of us is on the main card.”
Not long ago, Lobo Gym wasn’t on the minds of many MMA fans. However, today it’s a much more different story as the Guadalajara team has a UFC champion in Alexa Grasso, a former UFC title challenger in Irene Aldana, and promising fighters such as Costa, Lopez and Godinez.
The team’s success is fueling Costa ahead of UFC 295.
“For us, it’s more motivation,” Costa explained. “The team is going and on its way up, and our coach is very happy with the work that he’s doing with us. I think this is the fruit of the labor that we’ve put in for so many years training and dedicating ourselves 100 percent to training. This is huge to be fighting in a card like this.”
Costa has been training with Lopes for years. They two have been cornering each other through their rise in MMA, which is why Costa had to double-check with the team before accepting his fight at UFC 295.
“Yeah, of course (I had to consult with the team),” Costa said. “When Jason (House, my manager) called me to ask me about this fight, the first thing I did was consult with Diego to see what he thought. Diego is the one that’s managed my career from the start, so I spoke to him. We had also been training for his camp, so he told me, ‘You’ve been training, you’re ready, and this is a good fight, so you can enter the rankings.’”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 295.