‘I Never Signed that Contract’- Paulo Costa Provides Clarity on his Fight Cancelation Against Jared Cannonier

UFC middleweight Paulo Costa took to Twitter following the news that he was out of his fight against Jared Cannonier. ESPN was the first to report that the former title challenger wouldn’t be facing Cannonier on August 21. Kelvin Gastelum would be stepping up in place of Costa and taking over much like he did when Costa pulled out against Whittaker.

In the wake of the aforementioned news, Paulo Costa revealed to fans that the UFC prematurely announced his booking against Cannonier. Furthermore, he said that he was looking for more lucrative pay-outs when it came to main event bookings. It seems as though Paulo Costa and the UFC have certain things to iron out before he steps back into the cage.

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The middleweight division: An overview

The 12-1 Brazilian power puncher is coming off a rather lopsided defeat in his title fight against Israel Adesanya. ‘The Last Stylebender’ brutalized Costa from pillar to post and earned a TKO in the second round. There was plenty of bad blood between both combatants and it came to a head right after the contest.

Following the loss, Paulo Costa called for a rematch. However, his performance against Adesanya didn’t warrant one in many fans’ eyes. Not to mention, there is a long line of contenders, led by Robert Whittaker, waiting to get a show at ‘Izzy’. With two marquee bouts being canceled it seems as though Costa will be at the back of the line.

As for the newly scheduled bout between Cannonier and Gastelum, both men are in need of a win. They both lost to Robert Whittaker in a rather dominant fashion and maintain pole position in the middleweight division is hard. There’s a lot on the line for the winner as they’ll find themselves right back in the mix.

Israel Adesanya has his hands full now that he’s made his way back to the UFC’s middleweight division. His first order of business is taking care of Marvin Vettori, who is coming into the rematch with a chip on his shoulder. As it stands, the 185-pound division is arguably one of the most stacked weight class in the promotion, period.

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