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This weekend marks the return to the UFC of one of the promotion’s most feared middleweights, Paulo Costa. He will step into the octagon for the first time in over a year to face Marvin Vettori.
Despite having just one loss to his name and a glittering record, it seems Paulo Costa does not get much respect from UFC fans, particularly after his loss to Israel Adesanya.
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In truth, that makes very little sense. Despite his loss to the current UFC middleweight champion, Costa is still undoubtedly one of the best 185lbers on the planet. He’ll hope to prove that against Marvin Vettori this weekend.
On that note, here are five reasons why Paulo Costa deserves more respect than he gets from UFC fans.
#5. Paulo Costa successfully reinvented himself so much that UFC fans forgot his TUF appearance
When Paulo Costa signed with the UFC in 2017, he came into the promotion supposedly boasting an unbeaten professional record of 8-0. He quickly turned that into 9-0 when he TKO’d Garreth McLellan on his octagon debut.
However, technically speaking, ‘The Eraser’ was not actually unbeaten when he entered the UFC. Eagle-eyed UFC fans would’ve had a reason for recognising him before his debut. That’s because back in 2014, Paulo Costa was part of the cast on the third season of TUF: Brazil.
‘Borrachinha’ was still very inexperienced at that stage, boasting a record of just 3-0. However, he was able to submit opponent Jose Roberto to seal his spot on the reality show, which was coached by rivals Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen.
Silva ended up selecting Costa as his second-choice middleweight. The future ‘Eraser’ quickly gained a reputation for himself inside the house as a preening pretty boy and a dangerous grappler. Unfortunately, he fell to defeat against Marcio Alexandre in his first fight in the house, and was eliminated from the reality show after that.
Following his appearance on TUF, Costa was not signed by the UFC. He was largely forgotten by the promotion’s fans despite the popularity of the season. Instead, he headed back to Brazil, and honed his skills. Three years later, he entered the UFC as a deadly striker.
The fact that he reinvented himself as a striker despite being known as a grappler in his early days is quite noteworthy. He was also able to impress so much that UFC fans completely forgot about his TUF stint. That is incredibly admirable, and warrants him a lot of respect.
#4. Paulo Costa came closer to finishing Yoel Romero than any other UFC fighter
Despite the fact that he now fights in Bellator MMA, it's difficult to dispute the idea that Yoel Romero is among the greatest middleweights in UFC history.
Sure, 'The Soldier of God' never managed to capture the UFC middleweight title. However, he was still able to defeat great fighters such as Chris Weidman, Derek Brunson, Luke Rockhold and Ronaldo Souza during his time with the promotion.
And more importantly, Romero gained a reputation as one of the toughest fighters in UFC history too. In fact, while he lost four fights during his tenure with the UFC, no opponent could finish him.
The one man that came close to doing so? Paulo Costa. He fought Romero in an instant classic at UFC 241 in the summer of 2019. To the surprise of many, Costa took the fight to his Cuban opponent from the off.
Romero had lost to Robert Whittaker on two occasions before this fight. However, even in those fights, he was able to do tremendous damage to 'The Reaper' without being badly hurt himself.
Against Paulo Costa, though, he was somehow faced with a bigger, stronger predator than himself. 'The Eraser' walked Romero down from the off, clubbed him with huge strikes, and even had him on the verge of being TKO'd in the first round. Romero did come back somewhat, and was able to last the distance, but he was clearly second-best in the fight, and lost a clear-cut decision.
Essentially, nobody was able to hurt 'The Soldier of God' quite as badly as Paulo Costa, not even Israel Adesanya. That means 'The Eraser' warrants plenty of respect from UFC fans.
#3. There was no shame in Paulo Costa's loss to Israel Adesanya
Ignoring his loss during his TUF: Brazil stint, Paulo Costa has just one defeat on his professional record. That loss, of course, came against current UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 253 last September.
On the face of it, Costa's loss to 'The Last Stylebender' was an embarrassing one. 'The Eraser' came into the fight with a reputation as the most feared striker in the division. However, he couldn't lay a glove on Adesanya, and appeared to fold as soon as he was hit cleanly.
Looking more deeply at it, though, should there ever be any shame in a loss to Israel Adesanya? Absolutely not.
'The Last Stylebender' has never been beaten at 185lbs, and Paulo Costa wasn't the first opponent to be embarrassed by Adesanya. Derek Brunson suffered a similar defeat, and even Robert Whittaker was made to look like a rank amateur by Adesanya. Therefore, why should Paulo Costa lose the respect of UFC fans for falling to a TKO at the hands of arguably the best middleweight in UFC history?
Paulo Costa might not be the best 185lber on the planet right now, and he may never be, thanks to the existence of Adesanya. However, that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve plenty of respect from UFC fans.
#2. Paulo Costa was unafraid to stand up to the UFC's questionable way of booking fights
Paulo Costa's record in the UFC should obviously warrant him plenty of respect from fans. However, if anything, his behavior outside the octagon should gain him even more.
'The Eraser' has never been afraid to speak his mind. He has talked trash with opponents such as Yoel Romero and Israel Adesanya, but he has also been more than willing to stand up to the UFC, too. While the UFC is the biggest MMA promotion in the world, there's no denying that its way of business could be better for its fighters.
Fighter pay is only one aspect of that. That's because there have been many complaints aired over the years about their practice of announcing fights before they've officially been signed, which essentially railroads fighters into accepting them.
That happened to Paulo Costa in August 2021, as the UFC announced that he'd be fighting Jared Cannonier in the headline bout of UFC Vegas 33.
Many fighters would simply have accepted the booking. However, 'The Eraser' – showing some serious guts – outright stated that he hadn't signed to fight Cannonier, and wouldn't be doing so due to issues with his pay.
Very few fighters are willing to stand up to the UFC in this way, as it's such a risk to do so when the promotion can cut them at any time. The fact that Paulo Costa did so shows serious nerve on his behalf – and ought to mean he gets more respect than he currently does from UFC fans.
#1. Paulo Costa's finishing rate is second to none
Perhaps the most impressive statistic about Paulo Costa – and the one that should warrant him more respect than he gets from UFC fans – is his insane finishing rate.
'The Eraser' holds an MMA record of 13-1. However, incredibly, he has only gone the distance in one of those wins – his 2019 victory over the ultra-tough Yoel Romero, who was never finished in his UFC career.
Sure, doubters could easily point to the fact that most of Paulo Costa's wins came on the Brazilian regional circuit, and only one of those opponents – Wagner Gomes – was a notable fighter.
However, 'The Eraser' has been just as deadly a finisher since arriving in the UFC in 2017. His ruthless finishes of Uriah Hall, Johny Hendricks and Oluwale Bamgbose were simply outstanding.
UFC President Dana White often uses the adage "don't leave a fight in the hands of the judges". However, that's often easier said than done.
Even lower-level opponents can often do just enough to survive against a higher level foe. Paulo Costa's opponent this weekend, Marvin Vettori, is a good example of that. 'The Italian Dream' is one of the best middleweights in the world, but of his 17 overall career wins, only six have gone the distance.
Therefore, any fighter who can finish their opponents off in almost all of their fights – as Paulo Costa has been able to do – deserves a tremendous amount of respect from fans.
