Paulo Costa set to return in August main event opposite Jared Cannonier

Two of the middleweight division’s top contenders are set to rebound off of recent losses against one another. It’s Paulo Costa vs. Jared Cannonier.

ESPN’s Brett Okamoto confirmed the fight through UFC President Dana White on Wednesday. The tandem of top 5 ranked UFC middleweights will do battle in a five-round main event taking place on August 21. The fight night event’s location has yet to be determined.

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“Paulo Costa vs. Jared Cannonier,” Okamoto’s Instagram post read. “Main event. August 21. Per Dana White. Woah. What a fight.”

With the addition of this bout as the main event, the current lineup for the card can be seen below.

• Middleweight – 185lbs: Paulo Costa vs. Jared Cannonier
• Light Heavyweight – 205lbs: William Knight vs. Fabio Cherant
• Heavyweight – 207-265lbs: Chase Sherman vs. Parker Porter
• Lightweight – 155lbs: Vinc Pichel vs. Austin Hubbard
• Flyweight – 125lbs: Alexandre Pantoja vs. Brandon Royval
• Featherweight – 145lbs: Luis Saldana vs. Austin Lingo
• Featherweight: Pat Sabatini vs. Jamall Emmers

Brazil’s Costa hasn’t fought since suffering his first career loss in September 2020. At UFC 253 opposite rival champion Israel Adesanya, Costa suffered a second-round TKO loss to blemish his record as 13-1.

The 30-year old knockout artist was slated to return sooner at UFC Vegas 24 in a matchup with Robert Whittaker but was forced out due to an illness. Costa’s last win came in August 2019 when he earned a unanimous decision in a fight of the night with Yoel Romero.

Cannonier, on the other hand, did end up facing Whittaker in his last time out. Unfortunately for him, the Dallas, Texas native has his impressive three-fight winning streak snapped when going up against “The Reaper”.

Each fighter has only a single loss at 185-pounds and now they’ll look to rectify those losses with potentially five rounds to do so.