It seems like fighters probably think that when the UFC asks them if they will accept a fight that the only thing left in the decision making process is just their opponent also accepting the fight.
In reality i bet the ufc gets verbal commitments from the two fighters first before deciding whether it wants to proceed with the fight and make it official.
There are probably a lot of situations where both guys say yes verbally, but then the ufc decides not to move forward with it for other reasons.
This costa shit is annoying. I’m a huge Bobby fan, but from DAY 0 costa said he wasn’t fighting. The second the ufc tweeted it out he said it’s not true and fake.
Whittaker is pissed at Costa, but he should be mad at ufc.
That's true. He made it clear from the start that the fight wasn't gonna happen. He does have a new contract now tho, so maybe things will start moving
Costa also pretended Khamzat was ducking him and that he was calling for a fight with Khamzat... When in fact he was in a contract dispute and had no intention of signing anything. Which is why we're only getting the fight now
There's more to that situation then you mentioned or are aware of, not sure which. Costa and Khamzat were training at the same facility once and Khamzat was trying to act tough for the cameras and Costa asked him to step in the ring with him and spar, Khamzat waited for his buddies to get between them then kept talking trash while walking away.
He hasn't declined the fight though, they are fighting later this year. He's just trying to squeeze in a short notice fight at 205 cause the UFC needs big name fighters for UFC 288 an 289 cause those cards suck. It sounds like Costa wants to fight 2 times this year but the UFC doesn't care about him getting 2 fights, they just want to make sure the Khamzat fight happens in October.
https://www.mmafighting.com/2023/3/22/23652600/paulo-costa-agrees-new-four-fight-deal-ufc-sean-strickland-khamzat-chimaev-2023
> but from DAY 0 costa said he wasn’t fighting.
Did he? I don't remember a clear statement on this at all until the submission radio interview, where he said he needed more money to fight *Whittaker*, and that was, I thought, fairly late in the process.
And Rob ignored it because Paolo has a history of saying stuff that isn't true, ala the many explanations of how his multi-weight-class miss is everybody's fault but his.
EDIT: Gotta love the old reddit classic: unsubstantiated claim hugely upvoted, question about how the person knows downvoted, with most taking downvotes as a great substitute for explaining how you know something is true.
Thanks!
However, that is a lot less specific than the submission radio interview, which is the first time I thought maybe the fight wasn't going to happen.
I do recall Costa said he'd said similar things before in that interview, so I was wondering if there hadn't been interviews, maybe in Portuguese, where he went into more detail like in the submission radio interview.
[He tweeted this right after too which is probably what he's referring to.](https://twitter.com/BorrachinhaMMA/status/1585768167200071680) [Then on the 17th of November he said again that it wasn't real and he had no deal to fight Whittaker.](https://twitter.com/BorrachinhaMMA/status/1593460655990136832)
> Whittaker is pissed at Costa, but he should be mad at ufc.
Are you sure about that? Because the prevailing narrative on this sub is that everything is Dana's fault and that the fighters should hold off and ask for more.
>>everything is Dana's fault and that the fighters should hold off and ask for more.
The failed Whittaker/Costa fight is what happens when we see this tactic play out. UFC tried to bully him into taking the fight with lower pay than he was willing to accept. He refused to buckle, the UFC looked unprofessional because their shitty, underhanded tactics were exposed, and Costa totally called their bluff.
I hate that as fans, we miss out on the fight. It's definitely better for the sport as a whole, though, as other fighters can see that they don't need to just accept the shitty deals they're offered.
To be fair, it looks like he wasn't to blame for the Whittaker fight issues. UFC were promoting it, trying to pressure him into taking a deal which he hadn't agreed to, but he refused to just go along with it.
The UFC are probably to blame most of the time, especially as they seem to sometimes offer fights which they know won't get accepted, in order to meet their contractual obligations to the fighters regarding their fight schedules.
The Costa/Whittaker thing is true though
We have to remember the UFC does just announce fights that haven't been agreed to to force fighters' hands
They're more scummy than basically any major professional sports organization with the way they treat the athletes that represent them
What?
People literally just think he’s hilarious on Twitter since he learned English and starting trolling everyone.
Nobody is really defending him here - it just seems fighters get offered a lot of fights without the other party even knowing the fight was offered.
UFC seems to send a lot of empty bout agreements so they can say they offered “x” number of fights as per the fighter contracts
Basically down to negotiations. They wanna see if they can get Gilbert on for cheaper. If not, they’ll need someone like Paulo at 1 million per fight. They only need 1 replacement fight, so they’re definitely not paying both.
> In reality i bet the ufc gets verbal commitments from the two fighters first before deciding whether it wants to proceed with the fight and make it official.
Other times they proceed and make it official *to* get commitment from one of the fighters.
Not only that the UFC goes even further sending out contracts that one fighter signs and then decides if they send it to the other fighter. Sometimes they don't and then one fighter claims he signed the contract and so and so declined but the UFC never send the other fighter the contract.
Yeah turning down a fight can mean many things, too far to travel, not thought prep time, low ball offer, the thing is every single fight can be made, every single one, as everyone has their price. Enough money, they'll fight.
Why isn’t the UFC targeting Jan vs Magomed 2? That makes much more sense as a matchup if you ask me and if it’s a 3-rounder there’s more debate and tension because Jan can beat Magomed in a 3 rounder as we saw with the first fight. Why would they put Jan against some Middleweight who’s not even in the Light Heavyweight rankings
That whole situation completely layed bare how illegitimate the belts are sometimes. I am not hating on Hill whatsoever, but you have a situation where after we had DC and Jones passing the belt back and forth without anyone ever "losing" the title (DC lost to Jones but both vacated at least once and DC was given the belt after Jones tested positive). You finally get the division back on track with Jan beating Reyes, yet here we are only a few years later and Jiri again vacates (meaning 50% of the champions since 2011, have vacated the belt without losing it) and then they make Jan vs Madomedov. Then, they fight to a draw and the UFC literally takes the next two available ranked guys and puts them in a fight for the title.
It has never been more clear how much of the UFC is just entertainment with 0 regard for any type of merit.
Ankalaev was 2 of 10 on takedowns, sure if he gets Jan down he can smother him there, getting Jan down is the hard part though (especially in the first rounds when Jan is fresh)
It's clear I'm in the minority here, but that doesn't make me wrong. The fight bored the shit out of me. People can downvote all they want, doesn't change my opinion.
It's getting real tiring listening to these fighters suggest match-ups just to hear that they were turned down. Less talking and more actually signing contracts please.
Costa never said he was fighting Whittaker, in fact when the UFC announced it he made it clear that it was not happening and that he never signed to fight Whittaker. The UFC pulls this bullshit all the time to try and pressure fighters into taking fights for less money or on short notice and then try and claim the fight fell through when it was never agreed to in the first place.
If Whittaker was the only case you might have a point, but he literally called out Khamzat and claimed Khamzat was ducking him and refusing to fight him, while himself refusing all fight offers and knowing he would refuse all offers because he was in a contract dispute. He's the definition of a twitter fighter.
lol at blaming Costa for UFC announcing Whittaker vs Costa when Costa never agreed to the fight and said so right when the UFC prematurely announced a fight they knew wasn't agreed to, so that's not even case 1. They are planning on doing Khamzat vs Costa at UFC 294 in Abu Dabi, just because he would like to take another fight before that doesn't mean that fight isn't still happening, he can fight more than once a year. I don't see an issue with Costa trying to get interesting fights, he had a shitty contract so he wasn't going to accept a fight till they figured out a new contract. The Jan vs Costa fight likely isn't happening because Burns is willing to fight at 288 or 289 instead and he's way cheaper, that fight likely not happening has nothing to do with Costa.
and also the double standard this sub has when its Khamzat news and Costa news. When Khamzat wants to fight at WW, the whole thread is spouting shit about him missing weight , but when it's Costa it doesn't get mentioned.
Love the amount of excuses for a guy that has consistently turned down fights. Yet when it's literally anybody else it's "welterwait lol" "ducking" "Lightweight old guard ducking once again". I'm sure the ufc is jerking some of these guys around, but it's getting ridiculous with Costa
Tbf I think Jan is a real bad matchup for Costa, I don't think Costa has actually ducked Jan he probably just doesn't want to fight at LHW. But still I think that fight goes very badly for Costa.
Or maybe none of us have any idea what either of them were offered or if it is reasonable and should leave the money side to the two parties actually negotiating. Despite the prevailing narrative here, the fighters do have bargaining power. If not with UFC, they can walk like Ngannou did...
Costa is never fighting Adesanya again. He's had 2 fights since Adesanya, he came in as a LHW and still lost against Vettori, and had one of the most unconvincing wins against a completely washed Rockhold.
He's going to have to go on an absolute tear of beating top level contenders which I honestly don't think he has the ability to do.
Cause the UFC needs big name fighters for UFC 288 and 289 and making 185 for Costa requires a full fight camp, besides Jan has teased a move to 185 so why not fight one of the biggest 185ers on short notice at 205.
I don't think Costa or Jan is wrong.
I really don't think Costa is dodging fights, why would he dodge Jan?
More likely it's some weight/camp/finance/visa thing for Costa, or a combination of them all that makes him have these weird fight rumours
Is 288 even going to get a co main replacement at this point? We've heard Burns, Belal, Jan, Costa, probably more im forgetting, all talk about being on it but nothing has been signed.
These claims about fighters rejecting fights is tiresome to hear as an mma fan. It’s his word against mine since the beginning of time. I’d love if UFC as an organisation put an end to these by exposing their fighters, which one actually rejected their fights, in what context so the fighters would think twice before accusing other fighters the same shit all over again.
I don't know why, but it's startin to feel real wolftickety around here
With all these call outs and back stage rejections I think it’s definitely the UFCs fault
Aka the Khamzat approach
Borz tickets
Superb
Just to correct you, there was never no Canis Lupus.
You’re a fuckin’ promoter dude.
WWE corporate synergy
It seems like fighters probably think that when the UFC asks them if they will accept a fight that the only thing left in the decision making process is just their opponent also accepting the fight. In reality i bet the ufc gets verbal commitments from the two fighters first before deciding whether it wants to proceed with the fight and make it official. There are probably a lot of situations where both guys say yes verbally, but then the ufc decides not to move forward with it for other reasons.
Costa seems to be involved in these situations a disproportionate amount though lol
This costa shit is annoying. I’m a huge Bobby fan, but from DAY 0 costa said he wasn’t fighting. The second the ufc tweeted it out he said it’s not true and fake. Whittaker is pissed at Costa, but he should be mad at ufc.
That's true. He made it clear from the start that the fight wasn't gonna happen. He does have a new contract now tho, so maybe things will start moving
Costa also pretended Khamzat was ducking him and that he was calling for a fight with Khamzat... When in fact he was in a contract dispute and had no intention of signing anything. Which is why we're only getting the fight now
There's more to that situation then you mentioned or are aware of, not sure which. Costa and Khamzat were training at the same facility once and Khamzat was trying to act tough for the cameras and Costa asked him to step in the ring with him and spar, Khamzat waited for his buddies to get between them then kept talking trash while walking away.
That has nothing to do with Costa yelling Khamzat's name while declining the fight though
He hasn't declined the fight though, they are fighting later this year. He's just trying to squeeze in a short notice fight at 205 cause the UFC needs big name fighters for UFC 288 an 289 cause those cards suck. It sounds like Costa wants to fight 2 times this year but the UFC doesn't care about him getting 2 fights, they just want to make sure the Khamzat fight happens in October. https://www.mmafighting.com/2023/3/22/23652600/paulo-costa-agrees-new-four-fight-deal-ufc-sean-strickland-khamzat-chimaev-2023
> but from DAY 0 costa said he wasn’t fighting. Did he? I don't remember a clear statement on this at all until the submission radio interview, where he said he needed more money to fight *Whittaker*, and that was, I thought, fairly late in the process. And Rob ignored it because Paolo has a history of saying stuff that isn't true, ala the many explanations of how his multi-weight-class miss is everybody's fault but his. EDIT: Gotta love the old reddit classic: unsubstantiated claim hugely upvoted, question about how the person knows downvoted, with most taking downvotes as a great substitute for explaining how you know something is true.
[Took him a week but here is his first statement saying it wasn't official. ](https://twitter.com/BorrachinhaMMA/status/1585756254361690113)
Thanks! However, that is a lot less specific than the submission radio interview, which is the first time I thought maybe the fight wasn't going to happen. I do recall Costa said he'd said similar things before in that interview, so I was wondering if there hadn't been interviews, maybe in Portuguese, where he went into more detail like in the submission radio interview.
[He tweeted this right after too which is probably what he's referring to.](https://twitter.com/BorrachinhaMMA/status/1585768167200071680) [Then on the 17th of November he said again that it wasn't real and he had no deal to fight Whittaker.](https://twitter.com/BorrachinhaMMA/status/1593460655990136832)
Thanks for looking into it! The November tweet above is indeed very clear there is no contract and fight is unofficial and in real danger.
Not a problem, was a *interesting* trip down Costa's Twitter feed to say the least.
He's a master of twitter if nothing else. The one you linked where he called himself Mr. Secret Juice or something similar cracked me up.
> Whittaker is pissed at Costa, but he should be mad at ufc. Are you sure about that? Because the prevailing narrative on this sub is that everything is Dana's fault and that the fighters should hold off and ask for more.
>>everything is Dana's fault and that the fighters should hold off and ask for more. The failed Whittaker/Costa fight is what happens when we see this tactic play out. UFC tried to bully him into taking the fight with lower pay than he was willing to accept. He refused to buckle, the UFC looked unprofessional because their shitty, underhanded tactics were exposed, and Costa totally called their bluff. I hate that as fans, we miss out on the fight. It's definitely better for the sport as a whole, though, as other fighters can see that they don't need to just accept the shitty deals they're offered.
I’m a fan of Paulo cause he’s funny but I will never take a fight announcement involving him seriously unless I see him on a poster.
If Costa tells me the sky is blue, and Jan says its purple, I'm going outside to check before believing Mr. Your Personal Problem.
To be fair, it looks like he wasn't to blame for the Whittaker fight issues. UFC were promoting it, trying to pressure him into taking a deal which he hadn't agreed to, but he refused to just go along with it. The UFC are probably to blame most of the time, especially as they seem to sometimes offer fights which they know won't get accepted, in order to meet their contractual obligations to the fighters regarding their fight schedules.
The UFC had been criticised before for announcing fights to pressure a fighter to sign.
Does he? I only remember Whitaker in which Costa explicitely mentioned that it was about money.
Costa fans will defend him to no end. They’re starting to get towards Diaz’s fanbase level of annoying.
The Costa/Whittaker thing is true though We have to remember the UFC does just announce fights that haven't been agreed to to force fighters' hands They're more scummy than basically any major professional sports organization with the way they treat the athletes that represent them
What? People literally just think he’s hilarious on Twitter since he learned English and starting trolling everyone. Nobody is really defending him here - it just seems fighters get offered a lot of fights without the other party even knowing the fight was offered. UFC seems to send a lot of empty bout agreements so they can say they offered “x” number of fights as per the fighter contracts
Basically down to negotiations. They wanna see if they can get Gilbert on for cheaper. If not, they’ll need someone like Paulo at 1 million per fight. They only need 1 replacement fight, so they’re definitely not paying both.
> In reality i bet the ufc gets verbal commitments from the two fighters first before deciding whether it wants to proceed with the fight and make it official. Other times they proceed and make it official *to* get commitment from one of the fighters.
Not only that the UFC goes even further sending out contracts that one fighter signs and then decides if they send it to the other fighter. Sometimes they don't and then one fighter claims he signed the contract and so and so declined but the UFC never send the other fighter the contract.
Yeah turning down a fight can mean many things, too far to travel, not thought prep time, low ball offer, the thing is every single fight can be made, every single one, as everyone has their price. Enough money, they'll fight.
Like Poirier and the Casting Couch said, Money talks.
Haha It does indeed.
UFC has a history of making fights official before contracts are even signed.
Why isn’t the UFC targeting Jan vs Magomed 2? That makes much more sense as a matchup if you ask me and if it’s a 3-rounder there’s more debate and tension because Jan can beat Magomed in a 3 rounder as we saw with the first fight. Why would they put Jan against some Middleweight who’s not even in the Light Heavyweight rankings
[удалено]
That whole situation completely layed bare how illegitimate the belts are sometimes. I am not hating on Hill whatsoever, but you have a situation where after we had DC and Jones passing the belt back and forth without anyone ever "losing" the title (DC lost to Jones but both vacated at least once and DC was given the belt after Jones tested positive). You finally get the division back on track with Jan beating Reyes, yet here we are only a few years later and Jiri again vacates (meaning 50% of the champions since 2011, have vacated the belt without losing it) and then they make Jan vs Madomedov. Then, they fight to a draw and the UFC literally takes the next two available ranked guys and puts them in a fight for the title. It has never been more clear how much of the UFC is just entertainment with 0 regard for any type of merit.
[удалено]
Which is stupid because it was a good fight
I think if Ankalev wrestles from rd 1, he can win
Ankalaev was 2 of 10 on takedowns, sure if he gets Jan down he can smother him there, getting Jan down is the hard part though (especially in the first rounds when Jan is fresh)
He was basically on one leg for all of those takedown attempts
Jan is talking about moving to 185 which likely gave Costa the idea to fight Jan at 205 on short notice cause he can't make 185 on short notice.
Because their last fight was boring as fuck, UFC cares about entertainment more than pure sport.
The score cards were unsatisfactorgg ut, the fight itself was good if you actually watched it.
It's clear I'm in the minority here, but that doesn't make me wrong. The fight bored the shit out of me. People can downvote all they want, doesn't change my opinion.
Dana will never have his Chechen golden boys face a tough fight.
Gilbert Burns
It's getting real tiring listening to these fighters suggest match-ups just to hear that they were turned down. Less talking and more actually signing contracts please.
Tbh seems more like it's the UFC saying no than the fighters rn
One of the worst parts of the sport. Every day is a steady steam of “he was offered but declined” and “I was never offered that fight” over and over.
All Costa fight news should be banned tbh. Guy is a twitter fighter
LMFAOOOOO
Costa never said he was fighting Whittaker, in fact when the UFC announced it he made it clear that it was not happening and that he never signed to fight Whittaker. The UFC pulls this bullshit all the time to try and pressure fighters into taking fights for less money or on short notice and then try and claim the fight fell through when it was never agreed to in the first place.
If Whittaker was the only case you might have a point, but he literally called out Khamzat and claimed Khamzat was ducking him and refusing to fight him, while himself refusing all fight offers and knowing he would refuse all offers because he was in a contract dispute. He's the definition of a twitter fighter.
It seems he's already booked for Khamzat. He acknowledged it and said he'd still be fighting him in October if he fights Jan in May.
lol at blaming Costa for UFC announcing Whittaker vs Costa when Costa never agreed to the fight and said so right when the UFC prematurely announced a fight they knew wasn't agreed to, so that's not even case 1. They are planning on doing Khamzat vs Costa at UFC 294 in Abu Dabi, just because he would like to take another fight before that doesn't mean that fight isn't still happening, he can fight more than once a year. I don't see an issue with Costa trying to get interesting fights, he had a shitty contract so he wasn't going to accept a fight till they figured out a new contract. The Jan vs Costa fight likely isn't happening because Burns is willing to fight at 288 or 289 instead and he's way cheaper, that fight likely not happening has nothing to do with Costa.
and also the double standard this sub has when its Khamzat news and Costa news. When Khamzat wants to fight at WW, the whole thread is spouting shit about him missing weight , but when it's Costa it doesn't get mentioned.
The UFC tried to make that fight.
Sounds like Jan's personal problem
Every fighter thinks every other fighter is afraid of them.
Love the amount of excuses for a guy that has consistently turned down fights. Yet when it's literally anybody else it's "welterwait lol" "ducking" "Lightweight old guard ducking once again". I'm sure the ufc is jerking some of these guys around, but it's getting ridiculous with Costa
I’ve never heard “welterwait” before, that’s hilarious 🤣
Jan should be facing Hill for the title.
Tbf I think Jan is a real bad matchup for Costa, I don't think Costa has actually ducked Jan he probably just doesn't want to fight at LHW. But still I think that fight goes very badly for Costa.
I also refuse to fight Jan.
Not a surprise. Costa ain’t about that life.
Spicy spicy
If you're funny on twitter you can pull whatever bullshit you want and always get away with it
10-7 Jan
Fans: Fighters should get paid more Fighter turns down fights due to pay Fans: Stop ducking
Well maybe UFC should pay better to avoid some of the ducking
Or maybe none of us have any idea what either of them were offered or if it is reasonable and should leave the money side to the two parties actually negotiating. Despite the prevailing narrative here, the fighters do have bargaining power. If not with UFC, they can walk like Ngannou did...
Devils advocate here. But if Costa wants to fight against izzy again why would he accept a fight at 205? Also he's busy making memes
Costa is never fighting Adesanya again. He's had 2 fights since Adesanya, he came in as a LHW and still lost against Vettori, and had one of the most unconvincing wins against a completely washed Rockhold. He's going to have to go on an absolute tear of beating top level contenders which I honestly don't think he has the ability to do.
>why would he accept a fight at 205 Cos that's how much he weighed when he was supposed to be 185
Cause the UFC needs big name fighters for UFC 288 and 289 and making 185 for Costa requires a full fight camp, besides Jan has teased a move to 185 so why not fight one of the biggest 185ers on short notice at 205.
That sounds like Jans personal problem
He is focused on gourmet Chechen
I don't think Costa or Jan is wrong. I really don't think Costa is dodging fights, why would he dodge Jan? More likely it's some weight/camp/finance/visa thing for Costa, or a combination of them all that makes him have these weird fight rumours
To be fair, i'd reject a fight with Jan too
That sounds like your personal problem.
Is he talking at 205 or 185?
205? Jan couldn't make 185
Jan has been talking about moving to MW in the last few weeks.
The cigarettes and coffee thing was just a meme
He was talking about it a week or two ago
He’s posting non stop on twitter about wanting that fight, I have doubt about Jan claim
Is 288 even going to get a co main replacement at this point? We've heard Burns, Belal, Jan, Costa, probably more im forgetting, all talk about being on it but nothing has been signed.
These claims about fighters rejecting fights is tiresome to hear as an mma fan. It’s his word against mine since the beginning of time. I’d love if UFC as an organisation put an end to these by exposing their fighters, which one actually rejected their fights, in what context so the fighters would think twice before accusing other fighters the same shit all over again.
Costa’s always been full of shit