Paulo Costa Called Out after Facing Sean Strickland's "Weird Style" at UFC 302

Paulo Costa has received an offer from another top middleweight to “swing til someone goes down” following his loss to Sean Strickland at UFC 302.

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“The Eraser” returned from a layoff of well over a year to take on Robert Whittaker at UFC 298 in February, and after coming up short in that matchup the Brazilian was booked to face former middleweight champion Strickland in a five-round co-main event at UFC 302.

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Costa was largely unable to get past Strickland’s jab and front kicks during a fight he ended up losing via split decision, but in the aftermath of UFC 302 one of his opponent’s teammates has proposed a September matchup where the two men can stand in the middle of the cage and trade strikes.

Anybody who has sparred Strickland knows he is a weird style to deal with. @BorrachinhaMMA no shame man, it happens. If you wanna someone in the middle and swing til someone goes down, I'm cleared soon and looking to fight in september. Would be an honour.@Mickmaynard2
— Chris Curtis The Action Man (@Actionman513) June 3, 2024

Currently sitting at #15 in the UFC middleweight rankings, Curtis is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Brendan Allen after “The Action Man” stepped in on short notice to replace Marvin Vettori and rematch Allen in a UFC Fight Night main event in April.

The hypothetical matchup would give Costa the chance to snap his current two-fight skid and possibly set up a future rematch with Curtis' teammate Strickland, although in the aftermath of UFC 302 “The Eraser” at least took some satisfaction in the fact that he didn’t absorb the kind of damage Dricus Du Plessis did when he took Strickland’s middleweight belt at UFC 297.

I have so beautiful face to let get so damaged https://t.co/F2CgpezG8U
— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) June 3, 2024

The fight with Strickland was a notable one for Costa because it was the first time the 33-year-old has competed twice in the same year since 2017, and despite that relative inactivity he still entered UFC 302 ranked as the promotion's #7 middleweight contender.

The Brazilian made a relatively quick turnaround to fight in New Jersey following his loss to Whittaker at UFC 298, and perhaps fans will get to see Costa compete a third time this year if he accepts Curtis' callout for September.

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