UFC 298 adds Robert Whittaker vs. Paulo Costa in middleweight contender clash

After two previously failed bookings, Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa will once again try to make a fight happen, this time at UFC 298.

UFC CEO Dana White announced on Thursday that former middleweight champion Whittaker (24-7 MMA, 15-5 UFC) will take on Costa (14-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) at the Feb. 17 event, which takes place at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., with a main card that airs on pay-per-view following prelims expected on ESPN and ESPN+.

Fight announcements:
Feb 17th, #UFC298
Feb 24th, #UFCMexico
March 30th, #UFCAtlanticCity
April 13th, #UFC300 pic.twitter.com/vcJYI3rekl

— danawhite (@danawhite) December 22, 2023

Whittaker, No. 5 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie middleweight rankings, and No. 11-ranked Costa were previously linked to a main event matchup in April 2021, but Costa was forced to withdraw due to an illness. They were again targeted for UFC 284 in February 2022, but Costa claimed he never signed a contract after UFC announced the fight.

More on this booking a moment.

The latest UFC 298 lineup now includes:

• Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria – for featherweight title
• Henry Cejudo vs. Merab Dvalishvili
• Paulo Costa vs. Robert Whittaker
• Ian Garry vs. Geoff Neal
• Amanda Lemos vs. Tatiana Suarez
• Tai Tuivasa vs. Marcin Tybura
• Ikram Aliskerov vs. Anthony Hernandez
• Andrea Lee vs. Miranda Maverick
• Marcos Rogerio vs. Justin Tafa
• Brady Hiestand vs. Rinya Nakamura
• Zhang Mingyang vs. Brendson Ribeiro
• Oban Elliott vs. Val Woodburn
• Danny Barlow vs. Yusaku Kinoshita

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 298.