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Paulo Costa lauded Valentina Shevchenko’s witty reply to Sean Strickland’s criticism of women’s MMA.
Strickland recently took to his X account and posted his thoughts on former UFC fighter and OnlyF**s model Paige VanZant. The 32-year-old alleged that the UFC signed VanZant because of her looks. He used her as an example to drive home his argument that women’s MMA is not as exciting.
Former UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko reacted furiously to the post and implied that Strickland’s comments are a veiled complaint for being paid less than female fighters:
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“Interesting unpack here. That looks more like an offended kid, who got less money in his entire fighter career than female fighters do! Good try, maybe UFC will see that and add some cash to your purse next time. But for now naked is you are.”
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UFC middleweight contender Paulo Costa is another high profile fighter in the UFC who does not play the ‘nice guy’ character. Costa and Strickland have ripped into each other repeatedly on social media and during interviews.
The Brazilian fighter sided with Valentina Shevchenko in the social media altercation and gave a one-word reaction:
“Hahahhahahahhs [heart emojis]”
Check out the X interaction below:
Paulo Costa gets attacked by fan at UFC 294
Paulo Costa has been one of the least active ranked fighters in the UFC. After making a grand entry into the UFC with three knockout wins in 2017, Costa has averaged only one fight each year.
He last competed against former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold at UFC 278. However, he has been involved in contractual disputes with the UFC and his bouts against Robert Whittaker and Ikram Aliskerov have been cancelled.
Paulo Costa was expected to fight Khamzat Chimaev at the UFC 294 pay-per-view event that took place on October 21, 2023. Unfortunately for Costa, he had to pull out of the fight due to an elbow injury.
He attended the event as a spectator and was involved in a fight outside the octagon.
In a video clip, Costa was seen fending off some people in the stands. One person jumped the fence and tried to attack Costa as the UFC security brought the situation under control.
Watch the video below:
The person brawling with Paulo Costa was later identified by an MMA fan as Russian MMA fighter Shovkhal Churchaev. He had grabbed headlines for pulling a gun on an opponent before their fight during a podcast episode.
