Dana White Accuses ‘F*cking Lunatic’ Paulo Costa of Lying About UFC Pay & Negotiations: ‘Furthest Thing From the Truth’

Dana White hits back at Paulo Costa over UFC contract and negotiation details.

Paulo Costa
Courtesy of @UFCNews on Twitter

Dana White snapped on Paulo Costa after the one-time UFC title challenger accused the promotion of low-balling him for years. 

The UFC president has been pushing back on accusations that the promotion underpays its fighters for years. Costa was the latest fighter to add fuel to the fire, claiming that despite competing at the top of the 185-pound division, he was still riding out a contract signed in 2017 that only guaranteed him $70,000 to show and $70,000 to win. In December, ‘Borrachinha’ claimed that the promotion had offered him a four-fight deal worth $500,000, or $125,000 per fight which would have included a UFC 284 fight with Robert Whittaker. 

Costa ultimately turned down the offer and even suggested that the UFC intentionally lowballs Brazilian fighters. In an interview on the podcast “Bussin’ With The Boys” by Barstool Sports, Dana White called bullsh*t on Paulo Costa’s claims.

“I just had a situation recently, and I’ll tell you who it was, it was Paulo Costa,” White said. “He is a f*cking lunatic. He acts like a lunatic. And he came out publicly and … kind of said what we offered him. It was the furthest f*cking thing from the truth. It wasn’t true. And this was a while ago, and this is the first time I’ve even talked about it. But, it’s just an example.

Dana White Indicates He’s Okay with Letting Paulo Costa Go

“See, these guys will say stuff like that because they know I won’t talk about it publicly because I really don’t give a sh*t,” White continued. “All these people who come out and say ‘The UFC doesn’t pay their fighters, they only pay this percentage of this that and everything else. We got an awful lot of people who sit out and he recently came out about an offer we made and it was the furthest thing from the truth.”

Paulo Costa is on the final fight of his existing contract, but unless the promotion is willing to pony up the dough, ‘Borrachinha’ is uninterested in competing against another top-ranked contender. 

“I’ve been in the business for 23 years,” White added. “How many guys have left? I just did a new eight-fight deal with Jon Jones, who was sitting out over money issues. I just did a new eight-fight deal with ‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley. The list goes on and on. The guys that leave are the guys that, we’re okay with them leaving. The guys who leave are the guys we’re okay with.”

Debuting for the promotion in 2017, ‘The Eraser’ has gone 6-2 inside the Octagon, earning victories over Johnny Hendricks, Uriah Hall, and Yoel Romero. Costa came up short in his lone-UFC title bid, suffering a second-round knockout against then-champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 253. His last appearance came at UFC 278 where he defeated former UFC middleweight titleholder Luke Rockhold in a bizarrely entertaining battle.

Transcription courtesy of MMA Mania

Published on March 3, 2023 at 4:08 pm
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