UFC News & FeaturesDana White Responds to Paulo Costa’s Complaints About Fighter Pay
Paulo Costa recently backed out of a proposed headlining bout with Jared Cannonier on Aug. 21, citing pay as the primary issue behind his refusal to sign a contract for the fight.
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“Just to be clear. I never signed or locked up that contract. Why UFC announced this fight if [it] didn’t [get] signed? My question too.”
Dana White responded to Costa’s comments during a recent interview
with
TSN, and it should come as no surprise that the UFC president
doesn’t have any sympathy for the Brazilian middleweight.
“You signed a contract, you’re under contract,” White said. “If that’s the way you feel, you know what I say all the time, we have fights every weekend. If you want to be busy, you can fight every weekend if you want to. Get out of your contract, and go do whatever you want to do.”
Costa is coming off the first loss of his professional career at UFC 253, in which he struggled mightily in a second-round TKO loss to Israel Adesanya for the middleweight crown. In that bout, “Borrachinha” spent more time taunting than attacking before the finish, a performance that has baffled White.
In his latest interview, White again referenced that loss to Adesanya as something that has put Costa in a poor position to bargain for more money.
“You’re in no position to be talking about crazy money after your last performance,” White stated. “You either want to fight, or you don’t want to fight.”
White also addressed Costa’s criticism that YouTube personalities such as Jake Paul and Logan Paul are making more than legitimate mixed martial artists. Costa is far from being alone in that regard, but White doesn’t have any sympathy for his fighter in this situation.
“You’re not a YouTuber, you’re a fighter, and this is what you do for a living – or you don’t, it’s up to you,” White said. “Come back and put yourself in a position to do something big.”
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