Paulo Costa on Jan Blachowicz UFC 288 controversy

In the world of mixed martial arts, few things are more exciting than a heated back-and-forth between two fighters who are eager to prove themselves in the octagon. And that's exactly what we're seeing right now with Paulo Costa and Jan Blachowicz.

The two fighters were slated to go head-to-head at UFC 288, but the fight fell through due to a last-minute change in the card. Blachowicz claimed that Costa had turned down the fight, but Costa is now firing back, saying that it was Blachowicz who declined.

According to Costa, he had been negotiating the fight for several days and was excited about the opportunity to face off against Blachowicz. The UFC had offered him the chance to fight at light heavyweight, which would have required him to move up a weight class, but he was more than willing to do so.

Costa declared that he is interested in returning to middleweight so that he could beat Chimaev in October followed by challenging champion Israel Adesanya again because the latter knocked Costa out in a title bout in 2020.

Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, the #5 ranked middleweight stated:

"Jan, he's lying. I never turned down a fight. Actually, in fact, he is who turned down the fight. I have always been negotiating that fight. For three or four days, I was negotiating with the UFC. I never pulled out the fight. I was actually very happy with that fight."

Paulo Costa added why the fight failed to materialize:

"I accept the fight, but the UFC suggested to me that once I beat him, I don't come back to 185 [pounds]. They said 'once you beat Jan, you need to stay at 205 and hold your position because Jan is No.3 so you need to hold at 205'. I told them, 'guys, I have business to finish at 185 so I cannot go right now to 205'."

Costa said that Jan Blachowicz turned down the fight when the UFC opted to comply with his requirements. Costa made the assertion that he was not expecting such an outcome from the former light heavyweight champion, but it doesn’t matter as it was a short-notice fight, and maybe the Polish was not a good shape or training these days or maybe he was injured.

Now, Costa is hoping to secure another bout, which will end his current agreement and begin a new UFC deal with a large salary rise. He is capable of reaching Chimaev more quickly if he desires it done first.