Paulo Costa wants another night in the cage with the UFC middleweight champion.
“Borrachinha” is set to re-enter the octagon at UFC 278 on Aug. 20, facing former middleweight champ Luke Rockhold, and he believes it’s one of two victories he needs in order to secure one more shot at the 185-pound championship.
Costa spoke on Thursday in a Q&A with viewers on Marshall Inu YouTube. He said that he isn’t done following his back-to-back losses to Marvin Vettori and Israel Adesanya.
” I will not give up on my goal to win the belt.” Costa stated. Costa said, “I made some mistakes and lost my last two fights. I must win this one to move forward.” But I believe two wins, I’ll be on line to fight for the belt again.”
After winning five consecutive UFC fights,
Costa was first to challenge for the title of middleweight champion. However, he lost the fifth round to Adesanya, Abu Dhabi. “Borrachinha” came in too heavy for his clash with Vettori this past October, ultimately losing a five-round decision in a 205-pound contest.
UFC President Dana White originally said that Costa wouldn’t be permitted to fight in his next bout at midweight. But he booked Costa against Rockhold at 185 for July. Due to unknown reasons, the bout was moved for UFC 278 August.
