UFC President Dana White explained why UFC top middleweights Sean Strickland and Paulo Costa have been challenged by Russians Abusupian Magomedov and Ikram Aliskerov, who are not yet in the top 15 best fighters in the division.
“Let’s start with the fact that Costa has not fought for a long time. Strickland fights a lot, so the answer is yes, we want to give the guys a chance and see how good they are. Obviously, the dude that Paulo Costa is fighting is very cool – often we just don’t know how good some guys are until they get into the top 15, ”the head of the organization said at a press conference in Las Vegas.
Costa and Strickland are currently ranked fifth and seventh in the UFC middleweight rankings, respectively.
Recall that the fight between Sean Strickland and Abusupian Magomedov on July 1 will headline the UFC on ESPN 48 tournament in Las Vegas, and Paulo Costa and Ikram Aliskerov will share the octagon on July 29 at UFC 291 in Salt Lake City.
Source: https://fighttime.ru/news/item/31612-v-ufc-ob-yasnili-organizatsiyu-boev-striklend-magomedov-i-kosta-aliskerov.html?rand=19907
