Paulo Costa calls for fight with UFC rival Sean Strickland next: ‘I want to fight’

One-time UFC middleweight title challenger, Paulo Costa has called for a fight at the middleweight limit against fellow division contender, Sean Strickland next – confirming how he hopes to land a fight in the coming weeks.

Costa, the current #6 ranked division challenger, was targeted to fight former undisputed champion, Robert Whittaker at UFC 284 earlier this month in Perth, Australia – however, confirmed how he would not be penning a bout agreement to fight the former titleholder.

Last time out, the Belo Horizonte native featured on the main card of UFC 278 last August against former undisputed champion, Luke Rockhold landing a unanimous decision victory over the veteran Californian.

The victory returned Costa to the winner’s enclosure following a pair of losses against former champion, Israel Adesanya, and Marvin Vettori – the second of which in an impromptu light heavyweight showdown.

Paulo Costa calls for fight with Sean Strickland

Claiming he wants to land a fight within the next “couple of weeks”, Costa followed suit and called for a fight with recent victor, Sean Strickland – who is fresh from a January decision win over Nassourdine Imavov.

“I want fight this most wise and nicely red neck in UFC middleweight,” Paulo Costa tweeted, accompanied by a picture of Sean Strickland. “I’m trying it for couple weeks. Please release himmmmm and secret juice gonna be very well promoted nextt (sic).” 

14-2 as a professional, Costa, who featured previously on The Ultimate Fighter, holds other professional wins over former middleweight title challenger, Yoel Romero, as well as former undisputed welterweight champion, Johny Hendricks, and the likes of Uriah Hall, and Oluwale Bamgbose. 

Back in September 2020, Costa headlined UFC 253 in Abu Dhabi, UAE against then-undisputed middleweight champion, Adesanya, suffering his first professional loss in the form of a second round TKO.