Paulo Costa will face Robert Whittaker in the UFC official matchup. The link to the UFC website and the TV partner shows the matchup.
However, Costa stated that the fight is still not official and that he needs a new contract as well as a raise to face the ex-champ in Perth on February 1 12.
“The time for fighting for free has gone,” Costa told Submission Radio in a recent interview. Costa said, “I absolutely love MMA but cannot fight just for the love of it.”
The one-time middleweight title challenger hasn’t been fighting for free, of course. His guaranteed money is far below his opponent’s, but he has a lot of experience. At UFC 278, his disclosed show purse was $65,000, or 32 percent of what ex-champ Luke Rockhold was paid for the pay-per-view bout he won via decision. Costa doubled his pay with a win, as do most UFC fighters, and also received a $50,000 bonus for “Fight of the Night.” (The UFC does not disclose additional off-the-books pay. )
Costa said UFC executive Hunter Campbell agreed his pay was low and assured him the promotion would make a new offer during a recent meeting. He said that so far nothing had happened.
” I have received the same payment as 2017,” Costa. “So, it’s crazy. It’s crazy. I’ve fought top five guys, and now I make money as a beginner. So, [Campbell] agreed. It’s out-of-date, he said.
“But after that they announced that fight against Robert. However, I did not receive any contracts in my mail. I have nothing yet. Hunter will make an offer. He said “OK, we will make another offer” .”
Costa stated that he was happy to fight Whittaker. A win over the ex-champ could put him back in title contention after losing a bid for the title against then-champ Israel Adesanya. The winner of Costa Vs. Whittaker may be the one to fight for Adesanya’s belt, Alex Pereira having recently defeated him.
” This fight was one of my favourite fights, which I wanted to make,” said he. Robert is a great fighter. He’s very good. After seeing him fight I decided that I wanted to fight him because he is savage and puts so much desire into his fights. It should be an exciting fight and it would be something I would love to fight. This is one of my favourite fights.
“But, I do not have any agreement to fight this. This is the bad part. This is the bad part. UFC did not send anything. No contract, no offer yet. It’s a weird situation. I don’t know what’s going on with the UFC. As you know, UFC used publish fights only when there was a close fight. This is not the case. When they asked me about Robert and if I would like to fight him, my answer was no.
Costa said there’s a time limit to how long he will wait for a new UFC offer: two months prior to the Feb. 12 pay-per-view event (which airs on Feb. 11 in the U.S. due to the time difference). The Brazilian said his contract expires in mid-2023 – new UFC contracts have a five-year time limit that is believed to supercede extension clauses – and he could move to boxing if the money isn’t right.
” It all depends on what the terms are,” he stated. We can see many good opportunities in fighting sports. We have boxing. You know that boxing is an exciting thing. There are many big names. This makes sense to me. It’s so difficult to do MMA. It is important to practice a lot. I used to train six hours. If you put physical therapist, physical therapy session, if you put massage, I spend eight, nine hours out of my home every single day. To heal, it’s important to do so. It’s hard work. In my experience, the pay isn’t worth it.
” I love MMA. MMA brings me onto here. It’s a blessing. Sometimes you have to make payments, bro. You need to look out for your future. My deal was terrible. I believe that signing the 2017. deal was the biggest mistake in my career. So long, for so less money. I didn’t sign a smart deal. It was partly my fault and part of my manager’s fault at the time. So, I’m trying to fix that.”
Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2022/11/22/23474281/paulo-costa-wants-new-contract-before-accepting-robert-whittaker-at-ufc-284-i-have-bills-to-pay?rand=96749
