Paulo Costa seems keen to align with the burgeoning Matchroom MMA stable, with Ariel Helwani reportedly playing a certain role in matters, according to Matchroom figurehead Eddie Hearn. The former UFC middleweight title challenger has expressed some frustrations in recent times with the promotion, and Costa is on the precipice of the final contracted fight on his present agreement following his UFC 327 win over Azamat Murzakanov.
During a conversation on The Ariel Helwani Show, Paulo Costa intimated that he felt the UFC was delaying negotiations with him deliberately as a means to get the Brazilian combatant to re-sign with the organization for a longer-term deal where they have more leverage. With reports of WWE stars being asked to take sizable pay cuts, contracted talents for another property within TKO‘s portfolio may worried to where they’re compelled to recruit outside, informed representation to aid them.
Touching on this Costa and Helwani situation, in a video clip emerged on social media, via X user @BOXINGnBBQ, that saw Hearn say,
“He [Costa] actually reached out to Ariel Helwani to ask for my number. He called me and he said I want your help. I’ve seen what you’ve been doing with [Tom] Aspinall. I’ve seen what you’ve been doing with Ian [Machado] Garry. I’ve seen what you’ve been saying about us and I want you to represent me.”
Paulo Costa was offered a short-notice fight with a former UFC champ for this weekend
Paulo Costa told Ariel Helwani on his show that he wanted to get an interim light heavyweight title shot if he were to re-sign with the UFC, but was not about a rematch with a former 205 titleholder for this weekend. The ex-UFC light heavyweight champ in question is Magomed Ankalaev, who competes on July 25th in Abu Dhabi.
Khalil Rountree was initially slated to fight the Russian powerhouse, but Rountree sustained an injury. The former UFC light heavyweight title challenger would bow out, and the vacancy would be filled by Bogdan Guskov, who takes on quite the stiff test this Saturday. The ranked light heavyweight did indicate a desire to compete soon enough, with Costa giving a timeline of eight weeks to get prepared for his next in-cage assignment.
