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Chael Sonnen has weighed in on what could be next for Paulo Costa following his unanimous decision loss to Marvin Vettori. 'The American Gangster' wants to see 'Borrachinha' take on Anthony Smith.
Dana White recently stated that Paulo Costa will compete in the UFC's light heavyweight division going forward. Considering the issues Costa had making weight, he may be seen competing at 205lbs next. Against the background, Chael Sonnen gave his take on Costa's likely first opponent in the division while speaking on his YouTube channel. Sonnen believes Anthony Smith may be the man to step inside the octagon with Costa next.
"I will predict for you," Chael Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. "Paulo Costa's going to fight 'Lionheart.' But I don't suggest to you that that's necessarily the right fight to make. The 205 pounders are not going to call Paulo Costa out. They're going to see what I just stated. They're going to see a terminator who they never once planned for and one thing the top guys never want to do is see someone new."
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The former UFC title challenger believes no one will want to fight Paulo Costa, given that he's as tough as they come and isn't ranked. 'Lionheart' is a main eventer who has always been willing to fight anyone, which lends weight to Sonnen's argument.
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Watch Chael Sonnen explain his pick below:
Does the fight make sense for Paulo Costa?
Paulo Costa is in a tough spot following his loss to Marvin Vettori on Saturday. He is being forced to move to light heavyweight after coming off of a loss that had many people discussing his professionalism.
'Borrachinha' was undefeated in his MMA career until he faced Israel Adesanya for the middleweight belt at UFC 253. He now has two back-to-back losses at 185lbs.
'Lionheart' is coming off of a submission win over Ryan Spann in his last outing and will be looking to continue his run with a big name. Paulo Costa is pretty well known and arguably a winnable fight for Smith.
The matchup is fun, with both men having knockout power and good skills on the ground. Paulo Costa prefers to keep things standing and look for the knockout, while Anthony Smith doesn't mind taking the fight anywhere he needs to.
